Harris Poll: Gap in religious beliefs narrows between teens and adults
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Published · Updated
Though Americans are currently attempting to recover from their Halloween sugar comas, with our presidential election looming, religious beliefs are rising to the tops of many conversations and minds.
Over the past few years, The Harris Poll has found that the gap between the proportion of U.S. adults (18+) and teens (13-17) that believe in God is closing. In
2014
, 8 in 10 teens (80%) believed in God while only 74% of adults felt the same in2013
, now in 2016, just over three quarters of each share this belief (77% teens, 76% adults).It is worth noting, however, that while over half of all Americans aged 13 and older say they are
absolutely certain
there is a God, teens are more likely than adults to feel this way (58% teens vs. 53% adults).These are some of the results of
The Harris Poll
® of 2,463 U.S. adults aged 18+ and 510 teens aged 13-17 surveyed online between July 14 and 27, 2016.The after party
Whether or not a person believes in God, everyone must still find their own way to contend with the matter of death. Just under three quarters of Americans (74% teens, 73% adults) believe in Heaven, followed by seven in ten who believe in angels (71%, 70% respectively).
When it comes to the devil's domain, 65% of teens believe in Hell, a six-percentage point jump on the 59% of adults who feel the same. In addition, just under six in ten Americans believe in the Devil (59% teens, 58% adults).
And when it comes to what's deep inside, over six in ten Americans (61% teens, 64% adults) believe the soul survives after death, while 19% of teens and about a quarter of adults (26%) believe in reincarnation.
WHAT AMERICANS BELIEVE IN
Please indicate for each one if you believe in it, or not.
Base: Teens 13-17 and Adults 18+
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| % Believe In |
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| Total teens 13-17 (2016) | Total adults 18+ (2016) | Total teens 13-18 (2014) | Total adults 18+ (2013) | ||
| n = 510 | n = 2463 | n = 712 | n = 2250 | ||
God | 77 | 76 | 80 | 74 | ||
Miracles | 75 | 73 | 76 | 72 | ||
Heaven | 74 | 73 | 78 | 68 | ||
Jesus is God or the Son of God | 72 | 71 | 74 | 68 | ||
Angels | 71 | 70 | 74 | 68 | ||
The resurrection of Jesus Christ | 70 | 68 | 70 | 65 | ||
Hell | 65 | 59 | 64 | 58 | ||
Survival of the soul after death | 61 | 64 | 62 | 64 | ||
The Virgin birth (Jesus born of Mary) | 61 | 57 | 59 | 57 | ||
The Devil | 59 | 58 | 65 | 58 | ||
Ghosts | 44 | 41 | 46 | 42 | ||
Darwin's theory of evolution | 40 | 49 | 43 | 47 | ||
Creationism | 33 | 37 | 38 | 36 | ||
Astrology | 30 | 33 | 36 | 29 | ||
UFOs | 29 | 35 | 31 | 36 | ||
Witches | 25 | 28 | 23 | 26 | ||
Reincarnation – that you were once another person | 19 | 26 | 21 | 24 | ||
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To see other recent Harris Polls, please visit our website,
TheHarrisPoll.com
.
Methodology
This
Harris Poll
was conducted online, in English, within the United States between July 14 and 27, 2016among 2,463 adults aged 18+ and 510 teens aged 13-17. Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online.