White Christians now make up less than half of the entire United States population, according to the Pew Research Center's Religious Landscape survey published on Monday by the National Journal's Next America project.
The survey showed only 46 percent of American adults are white Christians, down from 55 percent back in 2007.
However, the numbers have remained steady among those who identify themselves as Republicans. The survey revealed that nearly seven out of 10 white Christians — or 69 percent — identify themselves as Republicans, while just 31 percent are pro-Democrats.
Among non-white Christians, on the other hand, 32 percent identify with or lean towards Democrats, while only 13 percent do the same with Republicans.
"It means there really are social divisions between the coalitions of the two parties. The differences between the parties are rooted in these deep value differences. It is not impossible to compromise, but it is much more difficult to compromise, when you've got differences rooted in this," said John C. Green, an expert on religion and politics and dean of the college of arts and sciences at the University of Akron.
The survey was conducted via phone calls between June 4 and Sept. 30, 2014. A total of 35,071 Americans were interviewed. The poll has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 0.6 percentage points.
Meanwhile, the number of Americans who identified with nonChristian faiths such as Judaism, Islam, or Buddhism increased slightly from 4.7 to 5.9 percent during that same time frame.
The biggest change, according to the survey, came in the ranks of the "nones," or those Americans who identify themselves as atheist, agnostic, or with no particular religious faith. That number increased from 16 percent in 2007 to nearly 23 percent in 2014. Among the millennial generation, about one-third now identify themselves with no religious faith, which is about double the proportion among baby boomers.
