Yesterday, a new national survey on religion, politics and public policy issues was released by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. A lengthy summary, as well as the full report, are available online.
The survey finds that by a margin of 51% to 28% , the Republican Party is seen as most concerned with protecting religious values, while by a margin of 52%-30% the Democratic Party is seen as most concerned with protecting the freedom to make personal choices. 44% of those surveyed say that liberals who are not religious have too much control over the Democratic Party, while 45% say that religious conservatives have too much influence over the Republican Party. On evolution and the origins of life, 48% of the public says that humans have evolved over time, while 42% say that living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time. 64% of those surveyed say they are open to the idea of teaching creationism along with evolution in the public schools, and 38% favors replacing evolution with creationism. Two thirds of respondents say that liberals are going too far in trying to keep religion out of schools and the government. The survey covers a number of other issues as well.
