Fact check: What percentage of democrats are agnostic or atheist?

1. Summary of the results

The analyses reveal a significant data gap in directly answering the original question. While multiple sources provide information about the political alignment of atheists and agnostics, none provide the inverse statistic - what percentage of Democrats are agnostic or atheist.

The available data shows that:

• 84% of atheists and 78% of agnostics align with the Democratic Party ^[1]
• Approximately 80% of atheists and 75% of agnostics vote for Democrats ^[2]
• 39% of Harris voters lacked religious affiliation, which may include atheists and agnostics ^[3]
• 28% of U.S. adults are religiously unaffiliated overall ^[4]

The closest approximation comes from the finding that 39% of Harris voters lacked religious affiliation ^[3], though this broader category includes more than just atheists and agnostics.

2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints

The analyses highlight several important contextual factors missing from a simple percentage answer:

• The "religiously unaffiliated" category is much broader than just atheists and agnostics, including people who identify as "nothing in particular" ^{[5] [4]}
• Religious "nones" have become the largest single group in the U.S., representing a significant demographic shift ^[4]
• Voters without religious identity make up a significant portion of the Democratic coalition ^[5]

Political strategists and campaign managers would benefit from having precise demographic breakdowns to target messaging and voter outreach effectively. Religious organizations and faith-based political groups might emphasize the broader "religiously unaffiliated" numbers to highlight secularization trends, while secular advocacy organizations might focus on the strong Democratic alignment of explicitly atheist and agnostic voters.

3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement

The original question itself contains no misinformation, as it's simply asking for factual demographic data. However, the lack of readily available direct statistics suggests this specific breakdown may not be commonly tracked or reported by major polling organizations.

The analyses reveal that most sources focus on the political preferences of religious groups rather than the religious composition of political parties ^{[1] [2]}. This framing difference could lead to misinterpretation of the data's significance - knowing that 84% of atheists are Democrats is very different from knowing what percentage of Democrats are atheists.

The absence of this specific statistic in multiple comprehensive sources suggests either that the actual percentage is relatively small and not considered politically significant, or that polling organizations don't routinely break down party affiliation by these specific religious categories.