MS remains the 'most religious' state; VT is still 'least religious'

[OneJ]

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Gallup religiosity poll

Interesting. I didn't know South Dakota is highly religious compared to the other states.

[King of Kensington]

Not much of a surprise really.

[LLR]

Most religious and least religious states. Look familiar at all?

[Crumpets]

Here are some more maps:

% "Very Religious"

% "Nonreligious"

Plurality by state

Median religiosity by state

[Nyvin]

Alaska and Virginia stand out to me,  other than that not much surprise. 

[Green Line]

I would have expected Washington to be the least religious.  I guess Eastern Washington brings them up enough. 

[Tartarus Sauce]

I'd be highly interested in a map that cross-sectioned religiosity with race.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

It's interesting that Western red states like Arizona, Montana, and Alaska are still not very religious, while places like Illinois and Maryland are.  I think this leads to the possibility of the Great East-West Divide of the 2030s-2050s in American politics.

I could see a scenario where Georgia and North Carolina are actually Safe R at mid-century, while Arizona has become Safe D and Alaska Likely D.

[RINO Tom]

For some reason (probably because I AM nominally religious), I tend to be more interested in nominal identification studies, of which there seem to be fewer.  There is no good, consistent definition for "religious," and someone who is an evangelical Baptist is going to say I am not religious, while someone who is a militant atheist would say that I unquestionably am.

[Nyvin]

It's interesting that Western red states like Arizona, Montana, and Alaska are still not very religious, while places like Illinois and Maryland are.  I think this leads to the possibility of the Great East-West Divide of the 2030s-2050s in American politics.

I could see a scenario where Georgia and North Carolina are actually Safe R at mid-century, while Arizona has become Safe D and Alaska Likely D.

I doubt it,  religion everywhere is on the decline,  especially with the Millennial generation.  By 2030 it's bound to be a much less impactful statistic politically. 

[Tartarus Sauce]

It's interesting that Western red states like Arizona, Montana, and Alaska are still not very religious, while places like Illinois and Maryland are.  I think this leads to the possibility of the Great East-West Divide of the 2030s-2050s in American politics.

I could see a scenario where Georgia and North Carolina are actually Safe R at mid-century, while Arizona has become Safe D and Alaska Likely D.

I doubt it,  religion everywhere is on the decline,  especially with the Millennial generation.  By 2030 it's bound to be a much less impactful statistic politically. 

^This

The reason states like Maryland still register as average religiosity is due to their heavy black population. The White population in Maryland more closely hews to New England Whites in terms of religiosity indicators than the Whites in states of the South or even the Midwest. Minorities and Hispanics are far more religiously inclined than educated Whites as a whole, but unlike Evangelicals and other White social conservatives, it's not the defining feature of their political beliefs.

[RINO Tom]

It's interesting that Western red states like Arizona, Montana, and Alaska are still not very religious, while places like Illinois and Maryland are.  I think this leads to the possibility of the Great East-West Divide of the 2030s-2050s in American politics.

I could see a scenario where Georgia and North Carolina are actually Safe R at mid-century, while Arizona has become Safe D and Alaska Likely D.

I doubt it,  religion everywhere is on the decline,  especially with the Millennial generation.  By 2030 it's bound to be a much less impactful statistic politically. 

^This

The reason states like Maryland still register as average religiosity is due to their heavy black population. The White population in Maryland more closely hews to New England Whites in terms of religiosity indicators than the Whites in states of the South or even the Midwest. Minorities and Hispanics are far more religiously inclined than educated Whites as a whole, but unlike Evangelicals and other White social conservatives, it's not the defining feature of their political beliefs.

Did you literally just say a sentence where you implied there was a dichotomy between being socially conservative and educated?

[All Along The Watchtower]

It's interesting that Western red states like Arizona, Montana, and Alaska are still not very religious, while places like Illinois and Maryland are.  I think this leads to the possibility of the Great East-West Divide of the 2030s-2050s in American politics.

I could see a scenario where Georgia and North Carolina are actually Safe R at mid-century, while Arizona has become Safe D and Alaska Likely D.

I doubt it,  religion everywhere is on the decline,  especially with the Millennial generation.  By 2030 it's bound to be a much less impactful statistic politically.  

^This

The reason states like Maryland still register as average religiosity is due to their heavy black population. The White population in Maryland more closely hews to New England Whites in terms of religiosity indicators than the Whites in states of the South or even the Midwest. Minorities and Hispanics are far more religiously inclined than educated Whites as a whole, but unlike Evangelicals and other White social conservatives, it's not the defining feature of their political beliefs.

Did you literally just say a sentence where you implied there was a dichotomy between being socially conservative and educated?

If by "socially conservative" you mean "strongly evangelical in religious orientation" then yeah, there's an inverse correlation between that and level of formal education. But it's only a correlation, and not as strong as elite liberals (and some more secular elite conservatives, for that matter) commonly think. And it must be emphasized that it's weaker than what it used to be, and skewed regionally (because obviously the Southern Bible Belt would skew this relationship).

Also, less formally educated people really aren't that religious (let alone, "socially conservative") in practice, even if their moral beliefs seem crude and ignorant by elite university-educated standards. Problem is, elite university graduates absolutely dominate the narrative, and not just in this context.

[Tartarus Sauce]

It's interesting that Western red states like Arizona, Montana, and Alaska are still not very religious, while places like Illinois and Maryland are.  I think this leads to the possibility of the Great East-West Divide of the 2030s-2050s in American politics.

I could see a scenario where Georgia and North Carolina are actually Safe R at mid-century, while Arizona has become Safe D and Alaska Likely D.

I doubt it,  religion everywhere is on the decline,  especially with the Millennial generation.  By 2030 it's bound to be a much less impactful statistic politically.  

^This

The reason states like Maryland still register as average religiosity is due to their heavy black population. The White population in Maryland more closely hews to New England Whites in terms of religiosity indicators than the Whites in states of the South or even the Midwest. Minorities and Hispanics are far more religiously inclined than educated Whites as a whole, but unlike Evangelicals and other White social conservatives, it's not the defining feature of their political beliefs.

Did you literally just say a sentence where you implied there was a dichotomy between being socially conservative and educated?

No, I was refuting ER's thoughts about how religiosity alone will necessarily indicate future political leanings of states. Educated Whites on balance are less socially conservative than minorities, but at the same time, minorities that are socially conservative don't actively incorporate that social conservatism into their politics the same way high religiosity Whites do. Hence why a state like Maryland won't magically become Republican leaning just because its religiosity is close to the national average, because Blacks and immigrants compose the majority of its high religiosity population. The levels of social conservatism and religiosity among Maryland Whites more closely resembles the low levels of New England Whites than Whites in the Midwest or South.

And there is an irrefutable body of evidence indicating that irrelogisty among Whites is growing in tandem with with higher levels of education among Whites. College-educated Whites are becoming more secular over time than they were previously, and by extension less socially conservative. That doesn't mean there aren't socially conservative, high religiosity, college educated Whites, but it does mean they are constituting shrinking portions of the total college educated White population. Maryland is a great example of this, since it has one of the most highly educated White populations in the country, and they are emblematic of the trend of decreasing religiosity and social conservatism among college educated Whites.