Gallup on Evangelicals

The polling has a largely political focus:

Gallup has at times used a procedure consisting of three questions asking respondents if they have had a born-again experience committing themselves to Jesus Christ, if they have tried to encourage someone to believe in Jesus Christ, and if they believe the Bible is the actual word of God. Twenty-two percent of Americans agree with all three questions, according to a Gallup Poll conducted in May 2005.

Gallup also uses another, more straightforward approach. Americans are simply asked: "Would you describe yourself as a 'born-again' or evangelical?" The percentage of Americans who say "yes" to this question has varied since Gallup first began using it in 1991, between a high point of 47% reached earlier this year, and a low of 35% in 1996.

The average agreement in four surveys conducted since December 2004 has been 43%....

Black Americans are among the most religious groups in America. They are also, for the most part, Protestant Christians. Therefore, it is not surprising to find that 70% of blacks in the combined aggregate sample of surveys say they are evangelical or born-again....

Thus, when all is said and done, there is a group of about 28% of the adult population in America today who are white, non-Catholic Christians and who describe themselves as evangelical or born-again....

Evangelical Christians skew strongly Republican in terms of their political orientation. Over half (54%) identify themselves as Republicans, compared to 35% of the total population. On the other hand, 22% identify as Democrats, compared to 33% of the total population. Along these same lines, almost 6 in 10 Evangelical Christians are conservatives, compared to just about 4 in 10 national adults, and they are less likely to identify themselves as moderates or liberals....

There is no hard and fast definition of who "evangelicals" are in America today. For practical purposes, one approach is to define evangelicals as white, non-Catholic Christians who agree that the label "evangelical or born-again" describes them. Recent survey data suggest that about 3 in 10 American adults meet these criteria. Compared to the overall national population, this group of evangelicals tends to be slightly more female and older, a little less well educated, more likely to live in the South, and much more likely to be Republican and conservative.