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Poll finds sharp rise in young men calling religion 'very important'
By Anders Hagstrom
Published April 16, 2026
America's young men are increasingly turning to religion and professing that it is taking a more central role in their lives, according to a new Gallup poll.
The poll released Wednesday found that 42% of men under 30 years old now profess that religion is "very important" to them. That number is up from 28% from a poll conducted in 2023.
The data is also significant in showing a reversal of the traditional gender gap in religiosity. For older age groups, women consistently report higher levels of religiosity than men, but women in the under-30 group have remained with just 30% saying religion is "very important."
"The percentage of young men saying religion is very important to them is now similar to the percentage for men aged 30–49 and only slightly lower than for senior men," Gallup wrote.
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Young men profess more religiosity and more church attendance in 2025. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)
"Young women, by contrast, are now by far the least religious women. At 29% calling religion very important, women aged 18–29 trail the next-least religious group, 30- to 49-year-old women, by 18 points and are less than half as likely as senior women to say religion is very important," Gallup said.
The poll also found a spike in young men saying they attend a religious service on at least a monthly basis, jumping from 33% in 2023 to 40% in 2025.
The growth in church attendance and religiosity is most apparent among young Republicans politically, rising from 40% in 2019 to 52% in 2025. That number is still well below the 60% of Republican men who said they attended church monthly in 2007.
Democratic young men have continuously dropped in church attendance since 2000, according to the polling data. In 2000, 40% of Democratic men reported church attendance, compared to just 26% in the latest poll.
Young children attend church. (Getty Images)
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Gallup's data on the importance of religion is based on 4,015 interviews with U.S. adults, including 295 men under 30 and 145 women under 30. The data on church attendance is based on reports from over 26,000 U.S. adults, including 1,905 men under 30 and 832 women under 30.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/poll-finds-sharp-rise-young-men-calling-religion-very-important