Sleeping Giant or Herd of Cats? An Experimental Investigation of Nonreligious Americans’ Responsiveness to Issue- and Group-Based Political Cues
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6373397 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ian G Anson (0000-0002-1545-4270, Department of Political Science, University of Maryland, Baltimore County Associate Professor, , Baltimore, MD), Carolyn Forestiere (Department of Political Science, University of Maryland, Baltimore County Professor, , Baltimore, MD) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 89 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 875-888 |
| Publication date | 2025-10-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Public Opinion Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0033-362X • E-ISSN: 1537-5331 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1093/poq/nfaf037 |
| OpenAlex | W7102671158 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 32 |
The rise of the “religious nones” has garnered significant interest among journalists and scholars. Whereas very few people reported that they were not affiliated with an established religious tradition just 20 years ago, currently as many as 30 percent of Americans claim no religion when asked their religious preference on public opinion surveys. This seismic shift in the religious composition of the country precipitates important questions about the attitudes, group identity, and political participation of religious nones in response to contemporary issues. In this paper, we present the results of a novel survey experiment (N = 1,013) designed to determine if issue and identity cues increase religious nones’ sense of group identification, group consciousness, linked fate, and willingness to engage in political behavior. We leverage a unique large-scale sample of nonreligious Americans to facilitate these tests. Our results suggest that relevant political messaging does little to activate collective identification or political engagement among the nonreligious. Our findings have important implications for the future of American politics, even as the number of religiously unaffiliated people continues to grow
Group identification · Herd · Identity (music · Leverage (statistics · Politics · Preference · Public opinion · Survey data collection
None of the Above
Nonverts
The Nonreligious
Secular Surge
Race, Gender, and Linked Fate
Americans' Belief in Linked Fate
White identity politics
Bounded by Disbelief
Divided We Stand
The evolution of atheism
Concealable Stigmatized Identities and Psychological Well‐Being
More than meets the ITT
"Should Blacks Represent Blacks and Women Represent Women? A Contingent "Yes
Taking a Closer Look at Group Identity
Shared Identities
The Legitimacy of Representation
Group Membership, Group Identity, and Group Consciousness
No Harm in Checking
Authoritarianism and Public Opinion on Church and State in the United States
Secularism, Religion, and Political Choice in the United States
The Politics of New Atheism
Non-Religious Identity Salience for Candidate Choice
Stratum Identification and Consciousness
Traditional, Modern, and Post-Secular Perspectives on Science and Religion in the United States
Secular or nonreligious? Investigating and interpreting generic 'not religious' categories and populations
Beyond SES
Those Who Stay Religious 'Nones' and Those Who Don't
The Religious 'Nones
The Politics of Religious Nones
Creating a Godless Community
| Highly cited | No |
|---|