Monday, September 21, 2009

The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same?

Rasmussen Poll: 2006 National survey found that 54% of American adults believe the Bible is literally true
75% in Arkansas, Alabama Believe Bible Literally True
Only 22% in Vermont, Massachusetts



http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/august_2006/75_in_arkansas_alabama_believe_bible_literally_true

Not surprisingly, the Bible Belt region lives up to its name with states like Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee and West Virginia containing the highest percentage of those who believe the Bible is literally true. Alabama and Arkansas came out on top as 75% say they believe the Bible is literally true. West Virginia (70%) and Tennessee (68%) are close behind.
The northeast region of our map represents the other extreme. In Vermont and Massachusetts, only 22% of those respondents believe the Bible is literally true—the lowest percentages in all states surveyed.
Earlier this summer, a national survey found that 54% of American adults believe the Bible is literally true.
In Arkansas, the question proves to be one of the rare ones that doesn’t cause divisions along party lines; 83% of Republicans and 75% of Democrats say the believe in the Bible’s literal truth. Seventy-nine percent (79%) of women and 69% of men identify themselves as true believers.
In Alabama, Democrats and Republicans both share high levels of belief on the authenticity and literal truth of the Bible. Women again outnumber men, though by a smaller percentage, 79% to 72%. The states differ, though, when the question is dissected by respondents’ ages. Percentages of those agreeing with the Bible’s authenticity are in the high 70’s across all age demographics for Alabama. In Arkansas, however, percentages are actually higher for younger voters. Eighty-one percent (81%) of those 18-29 and 83% of those 30-39 believe the Bible’s literal truth and then the numbers drop off, hitting a low of 66% for voters ages 50-64.
In Vermont, 37% of GOP voters and only 14% of Democrats say they are believers. Along age lines, the highest percentage of believers are those ages 65 and older (36%.)
In Massachusetts, Republican believers again outnumber Democrats (39% to 17%) Surprisingly, among conservatives in the state, the percentage of those who believe the Bible is true (41%) is outweighed by the percentage who do not (44%.)
As expected, strong connections exist in most of the states surveyed between the percentage of those who answered affirmatively on the Bible question and their positions on abortion and same-sex marriage. See Daily Snapshot to go to tables with a state-by-state breakdown of responses on all three subjects for Premium Members.
The national survey was of all adults. The state surveys consisted of Likely Voter samples. The results may not be directly comparable.

4 comments:

  1. I always am a little skeptical of these types of stories. It is like the gotcha cam the entertainers use to go down on the street to ask regular people questions.
    "See! Look how funny it is that people can't point out NY on a map when I shove a camera and microphone in their face."
    Since this is a poll and it uses the biggest lying tool of all time (Statistics) you have to be careful in what you conclude from such data.
    Almost all of the results can be manipulated by the type of question and how it is asked.
    If you ask someone "if they believe the Bible is Literally True?" They might say yes.
    But if you ask that same person if they believe that there was a talking snake and a giant ark that held 2 of every animal for 40 days, without them eating each other, or if there was a man who was killed, buried, and then came back to life.... Their answer might be a little different.

    To repeat... I am very skeptical of these kinds of articles.

    Superpretendo

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  2. I must admit that I firmly believe that "statistics" as "Superpretendo" indicates, is the "biggest lying tool of all times". This particular article is a paradigm to America's government in today's society (in conjunction to Europe's government set-up during the 16th and 17th centuries). This article clearly demonstrates that religion in today's time, and in our own American government, still plays a role in politics.

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