Subscribe
Subscribe


Pew: Congress more ‘religious,’ ‘Jewish’ than the public

By Paul Bedard

They might not act like it all of the time, but a far greater percentage of House and Senate members are “religious” compared to the general public, according to a new Pew Research Center poll.

In a survey of the new 114th Congress being sworn in Tuesday, more than nine-in-10 members are affiliated with a religion, compared to just 80 percent of the public. In fact, only one member, Arizona Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, describes herself as religiously unaffiliated, said the analysis.

Recommended Stories

Pew found that 92 percent are Christian, with 57 percent of those Protestant and 31 percent Catholic.

What’s more, some 5 percent of Congress are Jews, compared to just 2 percent of the public.

Pew also looked at religion by party and found that the Democrats are more diverse:

Of the 301 Republicans in the new Congress, only one – freshman Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York’s 1st District – is not a Christian. Zeldin, who is Jewish, will have far less seniority than the one Jewish Republican to serve in the 113th Congress, former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., who was defeated in his district’s GOP primary.
Fully two-thirds of the Republicans in the 114th Congress (202 members, or 67%) are Protestant, about a quarter are Catholic (81, or 27%), and 5% are Mormon (14).
Democrats in the new Congress are somewhat more religiously diverse than Republicans, though not as diverse as the population as a whole. Of the 234 Democrats in the 114th Congress, 104 (44%) are Protestant, 83 (35%) are Catholic, 27 (12%) are Jewish, two (1%) are Mormon, two are Buddhist, two are Muslim, one is Hindu and one does not identify with a particular religion.

Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].

Related Content


Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information

NEWS

POLICY

COMMENTARY

RESTORING AMERICA