Who Makes Up House Senate Makeup
Every two years, Pew Research Center publishes a report on the religious amalgamation of members of the incoming Congress. This report is the seventh in the series, which started with the 111th Congress that began in 2009.
Information on members of Congress comes from CQ Ringlet Phone call, which surveys members nigh their demographic characteristics, including religious affiliation. Pew Inquiry Center researchers then lawmaking the data so that Congress can exist compared with U.S. adults overall. For example, members of Congress who tell CQ Roll Phone call they are "Southern Baptists" are coded every bit "Baptists" – a broader category (including Southern Baptists as well as other Baptists) used for assay of the general public.
Data in this report covers members of Congress sworn in on Jan. three, 2021. Ane contested election, in New York's 22nd District, was uncalled by the beginning of the new Congress. Congressman-elect Luke J. Letlow of Louisiana'due south 5th District died before the swearing-in; his seat will become unfilled until a March special election. One representative, Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa, was sworn in provisionally on January. 3; she is included in this analysis. In addition, both of Georgia's Senate seats were bailiwick to runoff elections set to take place Jan. v, 2021. Therefore, this assay includes 531 members of Congress, rather than 535.
Data for all U.S. adults comes from aggregated Pew Enquiry Center political surveys conducted on the telephone from January 2018 through July 2019 and summarized in the report "In U.S., Decline of Christianity Continues at Rapid Pace." Figures for Protestant subgroups and Unitarians come from the Center's 2014 U.S. Religious Landscape Study, conducted June 4 to Sept. 30, 2014, amidst more than 35,000 Americans. For more than data about how Pew Inquiry Center measures the religious composition of the U.S., run into hither.
When it comes to religious affiliation, the 117th U.Due south. Congress looks similar to the previous Congress but quite dissimilar from Americans overall.
While about a quarter (26%) of U.Southward. adults are religiously unaffiliated – describing themselves as atheist, agnostic or "nothing in particular" – merely one member of the new Congress (Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz.) identifies as religiously unaffiliated (0.2%).
Nearly nine-in-ten members of Congress place as Christian (88%), compared with ii-thirds of the general public (65%). Congress is both more heavily Protestant (55% vs. 43%) and more heavily Cosmic (30% vs. xx%) than the U.S. developed population overall.
Members of Congress besides are older, on average, than U.S. adults overall. At the start of the 116th Congress, the boilerplate representative was 57.6 years old, and the average senator was 62.9 years old.1 Pew Inquiry Center surveys have found that adults in that age range are more likely to exist Christian than the full general public (74% of Americans ages 50 to 64 are Christian, compared with 65% of all Americans ages eighteen and older). Still, Congress is more than heavily Christian even than U.S. adults ages 50 to 64, by a margin of 14 percentage points.two
Over the last several Congresses, there has been a marked increase in the share of members who place themselves simply as Protestants or as Christians without further specifying a denomination. There are now 96 members of Congress in this category (xviii%). In the 111th Congress, the beginning for which Pew Research Heart analyzed the religious affiliation of members of Congress, 39 members described themselves this way (7%). Meanwhile, the share of all U.S. adults in this category has held relatively steady.
Over the same period, the full number of Protestants in Congress has remained relatively stable: In that location were 295 Protestants in the 111th Congress, and there are 294 today. The increase in Protestants who exercise non specify a denomination has corresponded with a decrease in members who practice identify with denominational families, such every bit Presbyterians, Episcopalians and Methodists.
Still, members of those iii Protestant subgroups remain overrepresented in Congress compared with their share in the general public, while another groups are underrepresented – including Pentecostals (0.iv% of Congress vs. v% of all U.South. adults), nondenominational Protestants (2% vs. 6%) and Baptists (12% vs. 15%).3
Jewish members as well make up a larger share of Congress than they do of the general public (6% vs. 2%). The shares of about other not-Christian groups analyzed in this written report (Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus and Unitarian Universalists) more closely match their percentages in the general public.
Most all non-Christian members of Congress are Democrats. Simply three of the 261 Republicans who were sworn in on Jan. three (ane%) do not identify as Christian; two are Jewish, and ane declined to state a religious amalgamation.
These are some of the fundamental findings of an analysis past Pew Research Eye of CQ Curlicue Call data on the religious affiliations of members of Congress, gathered through questionnaires and follow-up phone calls to candidates' and members' offices.4 The CQ questionnaire asks members what religious grouping, if whatever, they belong to. It does not endeavour to measure their religious behavior or practices. The Pew Inquiry Eye assay compares the religious affiliations of members of Congress with the Eye's survey data on the U.Southward. public.
Footling change between 116th and 117th Congresses for near religious groups
The overall composition of the new Congress is similar to that of the previous Congress – in part because 464 of the 531 members of the 117th Congress (87%) are returning members.
Methodists saw the largest loss – seven seats – followed closely by Baptists (six seats) and Catholics (five seats). There also are 4 fewer Lutherans in the 117th Congress than there were in the 116th. By contrast, Protestants who do not specify a denomination are up essentially, gaining sixteen seats in the 117th Congress afterward too gaining 16 seats two years ago, when the 116th took part. Protestants in the Restorationist family too gained iii seats (all members of Congress in this category identify with the Churches of Christ).5
In total, there currently are three fewer Christians in the new Congress than there were in the previous Congress, although this gap is all simply sure to narrow once three of the four open seats are filled. Five of the six candidates in the uncalled or outstanding races identify as Christians; Jon Ossoff, a Democrat running for Senate in Georgia, is Jewish.six
When information technology comes to the 63 members of Congress who are not Christian, a slim bulk (33) are Jewish, a number that has held relatively steady over the past several Congresses.
The next largest non-Christian group is fabricated up of those who declined to specify a religious affiliation. There are 18 people in this category in the 117th Congress, the aforementioned every bit in the 116th, which had seen an increase of eight members in this grouping.
The 3 Muslim representatives from the 116th Congress return for the 117th: Reps. André Carson, D-Ind.; Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.; and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich. Similarly, both Buddhists from the previous Congress return: Georgia Democratic Rep. Hank Johnson and Hawaii Democratic Sen. Mazie K. Hirono.
Unitarian Universalists gained 1 seat, as Rep. Deborah K. Ross, D-N.C., joins California Autonomous Reps. Ami Bera and Judy Chu.
There are at present two Hindus in Congress – Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Sick., both returning members. One-time Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, who served in the 115th and 116th Congresses, ran for president in 2020 and withdrew her reelection bid for her Firm seat. She is replaced by Kai Kahele, who declined to specify a religious affiliation.
One fellow member, California Democratic Rep. Jared Huffman, describes himself as a humanist. He is listed in the "other" category. Fewer than 3-tenths of 1% of U.Southward. adults specifically call themselves humanists.
Sinema is the only member of the 117th Congress who identifies equally religiously unaffiliated. Both Sinema and Huffman have said they do not consider themselves atheists.7
Differences by chamber
Nearly members of the House and Senate are Christians, with the House just slightly more Christian than the Senate (88% vs. 87%). And both chambers have a Protestant majority – 55% of representatives are Protestant, as are 59% of senators.
Within Protestantism, the largest differences are in Presbyterians (three% in the Firm vs. 12% in the Senate) and Protestants who do not specify a denomination (20% in the House, 11% in the Senate).
Catholics make up a larger share in the House (31%) than in the Senate (24%).
The Senate, meanwhile, has a higher share of Jewish (8% vs. half-dozen%) and Mormon (3% vs. one%) members than the Firm does.
All of the Muslims, Hindus and Unitarian Universalists in Congress are in the House, while there is 1 Buddhist in each chamber.
The sole religiously unaffiliated fellow member of Congress (Sinema) is in the Senate, and the only member in the "other" category (Huffman) is in the Business firm.
Differences by party
Fully 99% of Republicans in Congress identify every bit Christians. In that location are two Jewish Republicans in the Firm, Reps. Lee Zeldin of New York and David Kustoff of Tennessee. New York Rep. Chris Jacobs declined to specify a religious amalgamation. All other Republicans in the 117th Congress identify as Christian in some way.
Well-nigh Republican members of Congress identify as Protestants (68%). The largest Protestant groups are Baptists (xv%), Methodists (6%), Presbyterians (six%), Lutherans (5%) and Episcopalians (4%). However, 26% of Republicans are Protestants who practise not specify a denomination – up from twenty% in the previous Congress. There are 15 Republican freshmen in this category, compared with 3 Democratic newcomers.
At present that Autonomous Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico has retired, all nine members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes called Mormons) in Congress are Republicans.8
Democrats in Congress also are heavily Christian – much more than U.S. adults overall (78% vs. 65%).9 Just the share of Democrats who identify every bit Christian is 21 percentage points lower than among Republicans (99%). Democrats are much less likely than Republicans to identify every bit Protestant (43% vs. 68%). Conversely, Catholics make up a higher share among Democrats than they practice amid Republicans (34% vs. 26%).
Amid Democrats, 11% are Jewish, and 6% did not specify a religious amalgamation. All of the Unitarian Universalists (3), Muslims (3), Buddhists (2) and Hindus (two) in Congress are Democrats, as are the single members in the "other" and religiously unaffiliated categories.
First-time members
While the pocket-size freshman grade of the 117th Congress does trivial to alter the overall makeup of the body, there are some notable differences in religious amalgamation betwixt incumbents and freshmen.
The freshman course is slightly more Christian than its incumbent counterpart. Just vi of the 67 new members are not Christian: 3 are Jewish, one is a Unitarian Universalist and two declined to share an affiliation.
The largest difference between newcomers and incumbents is in the share of Protestants who practice non specify a denomination – 27% of freshmen are in this category, compared with 17% of incumbents. Similarly, those who specifically describe themselves equally nondenominational Protestants brand up 2% of incumbents and seven% of freshmen.
Among freshmen, in that location are 2 Restorationists – the same number as there are among incumbents.
Other Protestant subgroups are smaller among newcomers than they are amongst incumbents. For example, freshmen are less likely than incumbents to be Baptists (7% vs. xiii%) or Methodists (three% vs. 7%).
Catholics, who brand up 30% of Congress and 30% of incumbents, make up a smaller share of freshmen (27%). Orthodox Christians, on the other hand, make up just 1% of incumbents and iv% of freshmen (three new members).
Looking back
While the U.S. population continues to become less Christian, Congress has held relatively steady in recent years and has remained heavily Christian. In the 87th Congress (which began in 1961), the earliest for which aggregated faith data is available, 95% of members were Christian, which closely matched the roughly 93% of Americans who identified the same manner at the time, co-ordinate to historical religion information from Gallup.
Since the early on '60s, there has been a substantial decline in the share of U.S. adults who identify as Christian, but just a seven-bespeak drop in the share of members of Congress who place that way. Today, 88% of Congress is Christian, while 65% of U.Southward. adults are Christian, according to Pew Inquiry Center surveys.
Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/01/04/faith-on-the-hill-2021/
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