Similar to past elections, religion played an important office in the 2020 U.S. presidential contest: Republican candidate Donald Trump continued to garner strong support from White evangelical Protestants, while Black Protestants and the religiously unaffiliated backed the Democratic candidate and eventual winner, President Joe Biden.

A bar chart showing that Black voters overwhelmingly supported Biden in 2020, regardless of how often they attend religious services

Just religious identity alone does not tell the whole story. Among White Americans, worship service attendance remains highly correlated with presidential vote choice, co-ordinate to a new Pew Research Middle analysis of 2020 validated voters.

As in previous years, voters who frequently go to religious services – divers every bit those who nourish at least monthly – were more than likely to vote for the Republican candidate in the most contempo presidential election, while less frequent attenders were more than likely to back the Democrat.

Pew Research Center conducted this analysis to amend sympathise the connections between religion and Americans' voting patterns in the 2020 election. It is based on information from the Centre's June 2021 report, which surveyed U.S. adults online and verified their turnout in the 2016 and 2020 elections using commercial voter files that aggregate official land turnout records. Panelists for whom a record of voting was located are considered validated voters; all others are presumed non to accept voted.

We surveyed 11,818 U.South. adults online in November 2020, and 4,183 adults in November and December 2016. The surveys were supplemented with measures taken from annual recruitment and profile surveys conducted in 2020. Everyone who took part is a member of the Middle's American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel recruited through national, random sampling of telephone numbers or, since 2018, residential addresses. This way most all U.S. adults have a take chances of selection. The surveys are weighted to be representative of the U.S. developed population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education, turnout and vote choice in the 2016 and 2020 elections, and many other characteristics.

Read more than almost the ATP's methodology. Here are the questions used for this written report, along with responses, and its methodology.

Overall, 59% of voters who frequently attend religious services cast their ballot for Trump, while twoscore% chose Biden. Amongst those who nourish services a few times a twelvemonth or less, the pattern was most exactly reversed: 58% picked Biden, while 40% voted for Trump.

However, these patterns vary by race. Frequent religious service attenders' preference for Trump was apparent among White voters merely largely absent among Blackness voters. (Due to limitations in sample size, results amidst Hispanic and Asian Americans could non exist analyzed separately.)

Well-nigh vii-in-x White, non-Hispanic Americans who nourish religious services at least monthly (71%) voted for Trump, while roughly a quarter (27%) voted for Biden. Among White Americans who nourish religious services a few times a year or less, far fewer voted for Trump (46%), while around half (52%) voted for Biden.

A bar chart showing that among White non-evangelical Protestants, infrequent church attenders were more likely to vote for Trump

Amongst Black, non-Hispanic adults in the U.S., by comparison, there is no such link betwixt attendance and vote choice. 9-in-ten Black Americans who attend religious services monthly or more voted for Biden in 2020, every bit did a similar share of Black voters who attend services less often (94%). Simply 10% of Black frequent attenders and v% of Black infrequent attenders voted for Trump.

Amidst White Americans, the extent to which vote option is tied to frequency of religious service omnipresence differs past affiliation.

White evangelical Protestants have been amid the Republican Party'due south well-nigh loyal constituencies, and this remained true in 2020. More than eight-in-ten White evangelical Protestant voters who attend religious services oft (85%) voted for Trump in the virtually recent election, as did 81% of those who attend less ofttimes. White evangelical Protestants tend to be more religious than other Christians by a number of measures, including in their worship habits: Two-thirds of White evangelical voters nourish monthly or more than frequently, while one-tertiary attend less oft.

A bar chart showing that two-thirds of White evangelicals who voted in 2020 attend religious services frequently

White Protestants who are not evangelical, nevertheless, do vary in terms of the connexion betwixt religious service attendance and voting for Trump. In 2020, White not-evangelical Protestants who attend services less than monthly favored Trump over Biden, 59% to 40%. Simply among White not-evangelicals who attend services more frequently, the vote was virtually evenly divided, with 51% favoring Trump and 48% favoring Biden. White Protestants who are not evangelical tend to attend church less oft than their evangelical counterparts: Three-in-ten White non-evangelical Protestant validated voters say they go to church monthly or more, while nearly seven-in-ten go a few times a year or less.

White Catholics, meanwhile, follow all the same another pattern. About six-in-ten White Catholics who nourish Mass monthly or more often (63%) supported Trump in the 2020 election, while 36% supported Biden. Less frequent Mass attenders expressed less support for Trump (53%) and more than back up for Biden (47%).

Finally, there are White adults who are religiously unaffiliated, a group that makes up 26% of White voters overall. Historically, White "religious nones" – who tend to rarely attend religious services – have been trending toward the Democratic Political party, a design that persisted in 2020. Ii-thirds of White nones (68%) voted for Biden, while 28% voted for Trump. Nearly all surveyed members of this group (98%) fall into the infrequent attender category.

In add-on to analyzing voters by frequency of worship omnipresence, the Center's validated voter study too shows how religious groups overall voted in the 2020 presidential race. Trump expanded his support amidst White evangelical Protestants slightly, winning 84% of their vote in 2020 after receiving 77% in 2016, when he ran against Hillary Clinton. Trump held steady amongst White non-evangelical Protestants (57% support in both elections). He also received the votes of 57% of White Catholics, compared with 64% in 2016.

Biden, meanwhile, gained some ground among White Catholics, garnering 42% of that vote, or xi points more than Clinton did in 2016. What Biden lacked in back up from White Christians, he made up for with support from Black Protestants and the religiously unaffiliated. An overwhelming majority of Black Protestants who voted final year (91%) supported the Democratic candidate, as did a large share of religiously unaffiliated voters (71%). Biden'south support was particularly strong among voters who identify as atheist or agnostic, with 86% of voters in this category backing him over Trump.

A bar chart showing that White Catholics were more supportive of Biden in 2020 election than they were of Clinton in 2016

Biden also enjoyed a stiff reward among voters belonging to not-Christian faiths – a group that consists of Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and others – with 64% of these voters supporting him. That is twice as many as the share who supported Trump. (The survey did not have enough interviews with members of non-Christian faiths to report on each group separately).

Validated voters are members of the Center's American Trends Panel who are confirmed to take voted in the 2020 presidential election after being matched to commercially available voter files. Read more data almost the methodology used in this analysis.

Annotation: Hither are the questions used for this written report, along with responses, and its methodology.

Justin Nortey is a enquiry assistant focusing on religion research at Pew Research Center.