Religious Groups and Political Party Identification

September 2012

Of all registered voters who identify with or lean toward the Republican Party, 87% are non-Hispanic whites, 5% are Hispanic, 2% are black, and 4% are of some other race or of mixed race. White (non-Hispanic) evangelical Protestants comprise about a third (34%) of all Republican or Republican-leaning voters. One-in-five are white (non-Hispanic) mainline Protestants, 18% are white (non-Hispanic) Catholics, and 11% are religiously unaffiliated. Thirteen percent belong to other groups, including 3% who are Mormons and 1% who are Jewish.

*The "other" category includes members of smaller religious groups (e.g., Mormons, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and others) as well as Protestants and Catholics who describe their race as something other than white, black or Hispanic (e.g., Asian, mixed race).