A new survey finds that while evangelicals remain a significant demographic, they make up a smaller share of the U.S. population than commonly thought. The American Worldview Survey, conducted by George Barna of Arizona Christian University, found that 10 percent of American adults identify as evangelical, using a definition consistent with that of the National Conference of Evangelicals, which defines evangelicals as “people who acknowledge their sinful lifestyles, look to Jesus Christ for salvation, and seek to live under Jesus’ rule from the Bible for practical life guidance and wisdom,” according to the report.
If the 10 percent statistic is correct, then between 25 and 30 million American adults would be evangelical.
“In reality, evangelicals are far fewer in number than is commonly reported, their views are far less biblical than is commonly assumed, and they tend to vote in much smaller numbers than expected,” he said. Report He said.
Pew in 2015 studyFor example, it found that 25.4% of U.S. adults identify as evangelical Protestant.
The new report shows that compared to the U.S. adult population, the demographic profile of Evangelicals is older than average (median age: 54 years), more likely to be married to their first spouse (48% vs. 34% U.S. average), less likely to be single or never married (16% vs. 31% national average), more likely to be White (74%), less likely to identify as LGBTQ (3% vs. 12% U.S. average), and less likely to have had an abortion (7% vs. 16% for non-Evangelicals).
“They are less likely to live in the Northeast (10 percent) or Western states (16 percent) and more likely to live in the Southern states (52 percent),” the report said.
The percentage of evangelicals in surveys is often inflated by self-identification rather than using a precise definition.
“Media reports often say that between 25 percent and 40 percent of U.S. adults are evangelical,” the report states. “But these figures are suspect. Most statistics on evangelical occurrence are based on self-reporting, and journalists and cultural analysts often equate survey data of people who identify as ‘born-again Christians’ and those who identify as ‘evangelical Christians’ as the same group, even though they are not theologically distinct.”
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Michael Faust He has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years, and his work has appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, Christian Post, Leaf Chronicle, Toronto Star and Knoxville News Sentinel.
