More than 160 million adult Americans pray each week, according to a new survey by the non-partisan Presidential Prayer team.
In the general public, nearly half of all adults claims to pray every day (45 percent). An additional one out of five (20 percent) prays at least once a week but not daily. Almost as many (17 percent) pray irregularly, with 15 percent saying they never pray.
A majority of conservatives (53 percent) pray daily, compared to four out of 10 moderates (42 percent) and just one-third of liberals (33 percent). At the other end of the prayer continuum, three out of ten liberals never pray (30 percent), which was substantially higher than the number of non-praying moderates (14 percent) or conservatives (9 percent).
READ: Jay Leno on today’s comedy and politics
Similarly, a majority of Republicans (55 percent) in the general public pray each day, compared to 43 percent of Democrats and 40 percent of independents. Roughly two out of ten Democrats and independents never pray, compared to one out of 14 Republicans.
Those who pray regularly are more likely than those who do not to pay “a lot” of attention to news about politics and government. Among people who pray at least once a week, 30 percent pay a lot of attention to such news compared to just 21 percent among people who pray less often or never.
READ: Prayer march called nation to repentance
Overall, Americans are most likely to engage in prayer because they believe it is a meaningful way to communicate with God (64 percent). Other popular motivations were that prayer is central to their personal relationship with God (57 percent); it is one of their ways of worshiping God (57 percent); it helps them to cope with challenging situations (55 percent); and praying gives them reason to hope for a positive resolution to difficult situations (53 percent).
More information about the Presidential Prayer Team and the national survey can be accessed at www.presidentialprayerteam.org or www.praythevote.org.