Abstract
Data from the Weidenbaum Center Survey (WCS) offer new insights into Americans’ religious and political lives by addressing two broad questions. First, how religious are Americans today, and how does religiosity vary across age and partisan groups? Waves 1–8 of the WCS, conducted between 2023 and 2026, are used to answer this question. Second, how are different forms of religiosity associated with trust in government, and do these relationships differ across age and partisan groups? To answer this question, this article leverages Waves 6–8 of the WCS, which included measures of trust in government, conducted between 2025 and 2026. The findings shed new light on how both believing—praying privately—and belonging—attending religious services—relates to political trust in contemporary religious landscape of the United States.
Document Type
Report
Publication Date
7-2026
Language
English (en)
Report Number
Report No. 4
DOI link
https://doi.org/10.7936/hr95-nd08
Author's ORCID
Hwayong Shin, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1639-5444
Recommended Citation
Shin, Hwayong, "Believing and Belonging: Americans’ Religious Practices and Their Trust in Government" (2026). Weidenbaum Center Survey (WCS) Reports. 4.