White Christian Population Stabilizes After Decades of Steep Decline

The U.S. supermajority white Christian population has stabilized after decades of decline, according to a new report from the 2020 Census of American Religion.

Research conducted by the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute found that the "white Christian" population has declined to 44%, a significant drop from 80% of Americans in 1976.

The shifting religious landscape is largely due to the rise of religiously unaffiliated Americans who now make up roughly a quarter of the population. This group has also stabilized after tripling in size in recent years.

"These things tend to be generational. And this really began with the millennial generation," Robert P. Jones, CEO and founder of PRRI, told NPR.

The report finds that Democrats are a more religiously diverse group with a majority of religiously unaffiliated people, non-white Christians, Jews, Muslims among other religions. White Christians make up just 39% of Democrats.

Over two-thirds of Republicans (68%) identify as white and Christian. The party’s religious majority tends to have a direct impact on the political priorities, which this year have included anti-abortion bills and policies restricting health care and sports access for transgender people, NPR noted.

Jones added that this census, which is the most ambitious large-scale census-style data on religion since the 1950s, is crucial to understanding the U.S. population.

“It really does help us understand some of the cultural engines that drive our politics and can really help us understand, I think, the divisions really that the country is facing today," Jones told NPR.