In case anyone needed reminding, America is a deeply religious nation, and a new FOX News poll has some data to prove it. Or, prove it again.
The news network’s recent national survey included a question asking if respondents “personally believe prayers can literally help someone heal from an injury or illness.” 77 percent of respondents said yes, against 20 percent who did not, and a perhaps surprisingly low 3 percent that admitted they were unsure.
The numbers within the results showed only a slight partisan bent. Democrats believe prayer helps to alleviate injury or illness at a 72 percent clip, Republicans at 83 percent and independents at 78. The only really significant difference was between self-identified liberals at 65 percent and conservatives at 85 percent, with moderates in the middle at 78.
But on the flip side, a larger percentage of Americans believe that evolution as outlined by Darwin and other scientists is responsible for human life on Earth since the last time FOX polled the issue in 1999. Darwinists were once at 15 percent but are now at 21, with the Biblical tenet of creationism now embraced by 45 percent versus the 50 percent seen last time the issue was polled. The percentage of those who think that both are true stayed slightly above a quarter of respondents. There was a fifteen percent difference between Democrats and Republicans on accepting evolution, with 28 percent of Dems and only 13 percent of GOPers believing it was the only explanation.
The FOX News poll used live telephone interviews with 911 adult Americans conducted from August 29th to the 31st. The poll has a sampling error of 3 percent.
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Kyle Leighton
Kyle is the Editor of TPM Media’s PollTracker. He graduated from Beloit College (WI) and began working in politics before getting an M.A. in magazine journalism from New York University, where he interned at TPM and the website of The New Yorker.
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