Voters who support Joe Biden and Donald Trump have starkly different views of the role religion should play in the U.S. government and politics.
Across several measures, Trump supporters are much more likely than Biden supporters to favor an expansive government role in support of religion.
At the same time, larger shares of Trump supporters than Biden supporters also say religion – and particularly the Bible – should have influence on government policy.
Note: Some data in this section was first published in the report “8 in 10 Americans Say Religion Is Losing Influence in Public Life.”
Religion and government policy
A large majority of voters (71%) believe that religion should be kept separate from government policies; just 28% say government policies should support religious values and beliefs. These views have changed very little in recent years.
A majority of Trump supporters (56%) say religion should be kept separate from government policy, while 43% say government policies should support religious values. By more than six-to-one (86% vs. 13%), Biden supporters say religion should be kept separate from government.
These views differ by race and ethnicity and – especially among Trump supporters – by religious affiliation.
Race and ethnicity
Few White (7%), Asian (12%) or Hispanic (15%) Biden supporters say government should support religious values, but about a third of Black voters who back Biden (35%) say this.
About four-in-ten White (44%) and Hispanic (40%) Trump supporters say the government should have policies to support religion.
Religious affiliation
About six-in-ten White evangelical Protestants who support Trump (61%) say government policies should support religious values and beliefs, compared with fewer than half of White nonevangelical Protestants (39%) and Catholics (39%) who back the former president. Few religiously unaffiliated Trump supporters (16%) want the government to support religion.
Among supporters of Biden, Black Protestants are the most likely religious group to say government policies should support religious values (39% of Black Protestant Biden supporters say this), while White nonevangelical Protestants (7%) and religiously unaffiliated Biden supporters are the least likely to back government support for religious values.
How much influence should the Bible have on the nation’s laws, if any?
Biden and Trump supporters also have very different views of the influence the Bible should have on U.S. laws.
Most Trump supporters (69%) would like the Bible to have at least some influence on the laws of the U.S., including 36% who say it should have “a great deal” of influence.
Additionally, 45% of Trump supporters say that when the Bible and the will of the people conflict with each other, the Bible should have more influence on U.S. laws.
About seven-in-ten Biden supporters (69%) say the Bible should have little or no influence on the laws of the U.S., including 53% who say it should have no influence. Just 15% of Biden supporters say the Bible should have more influence on the country’s laws when there are conflicts between it and the will of the people.
Views on the federal government’s role in promoting Christian values
There is a similar pattern in Biden and Trump supporters’ views of whether the government should promote Christian moral values or declare Christianity the official religion of the U.S.
About six-in-ten Biden supporters (58%) say the federal government should not declare Christianity the official religion of the U.S. and should not promote Christian moral values (17% of Trump backers have the same view).
A similar share of Trump supporters (59%) also say that the federal government should not declare Christianity the official religion, but it should promote Christian moral values (34% of Biden supporters say the same).
Another 22% of Trump backers would like the federal government to declare Christianity the official religion of the U.S.; just 6% of Biden backers say this.
Most voters say it is not necessary to believe in God to be moral
By roughly two-to-one (67% to 33%), voters say it is not necessary to believe in God in order to be moral and have good values.
Trump voters are more evenly divided in this view than are Biden voters.
Among Trump supporters
While 45% of Trump supporters say a belief in God is necessary to be moral, 54% say it is not necessary.
Among Trump supporters, white evangelical Protestants (59%) say belief in God is needed to be moral – the most of any religious group.
Among Biden supporters
Just 20% of Biden voters say a belief in God is needed to be moral and have good values. However, Biden supporters are divided by race and religious affiliation.
Much larger shares of Biden’s Black (53%) and Hispanic (28%) supporters than his White supporters (8%) say belief in God is needed for morality.
A majority of Black Protestants (57%) who support Biden say belief in God is needed for morality, compared with smaller shares of his supporters in other religious groups.
