Kevork Djansezian/GETTTY
2013 has been an exciting year for research on politics and religion, with key new data emerging on hot-button issues like same-sex marriage, immigration reform and raising the minimum wage, and on important groups such as the Tea Party, Hispanics, and Catholics. Here are the Public Religion Research Institute’s top 13 findings from 2013, sorted in ascending order:
12: Percentage of Hispanics who say the phrase “cares about people like you” better describes the Republican Party
43 percent of Hispanics say this phrase better describes the Democratic Party; 13 percent say it describes both parties equally; and 29 percent report it describes neither party.
19: Percentage of Americans who are “religious progressives”
38 percent of Americans are religious moderates, while 28 percent are religious conservatives and 15 percent are nonreligious.
27: Percentage of Americans who believe God plays a role in outcomes of sporting events
42: Percentage of Americans who say that capitalism is NOT working well
42: Percentage of Tea Party members who favor raising the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10 per hour
More than 7-in-10 Americans overall favor increasing the minimum wage, including majorities of Democrats, independents and Republicans.
51: Percentage of Americans who believe that marijuana should be legal
A majority (60 percent) of Americans also say that legalizing the drug is not a sign of moral decline in the nation.
52: Percentage of Americans who favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry legally
53: Percentage of Hispanics who are currently Catholic
Catholic affiliation is sharply declining among Hispanics as a result of more Hispanics becoming Protestant (25 percent currently) and religiously unaffiliated (12 percent currently).
63: Percentage of Americans who favor allowing immigrants currently living in the United States illegally to become citizens provided they meet certain requirements
Majority support that crosses party lines has been stable through the year.
70: Percentage of Americans who say the income gap between rich and poor has grown during the past decade
73: Percentage of Tea Party members who are NOT libertarian
73: Percentage of Americans who support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), a federal measure to protect gay and lesbian people against job discrimination
Support crosses partisan and religious lines, with majorities of both Republicans and Democrats, as well as all major religious groups, in favor of the workplace protections.
82: Percentage of Americans who report being very or extremely proud to be an American
Head on over to PRRI’s research page for more fascinating findings on the intersection of politics and religion during 2013.
