A recent survey from the Pew Research Center reveals that while most Americans support allowing teachers to lead students in prayer to Jesus in schools, opinions on the issue vary significantly by state.
The data, derived from responses collected between July 17, 2023, and March 4, 2024, from the 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study involving 36,908 U.S. adults.
It shows that overall, 52% of Americans support allowing teachers to lead their classes in prayers that refer to Jesus, with 27% strongly in favor of this idea, whereas 46% of those surveyed oppose letting teachers lead their classes in such prayers, with 22% strongly opposing the idea.
In a detailed analysis, Pew Research Associate Chip Rotolo noted, “In 22 states, more adults say they favor allowing teachers to lead their classes in prayers that refer to Jesus than say they oppose it,” while “In 12 states and the District of Columbia, more adults say they oppose allowing teachers to lead their classes in prayers that refer to Jesus than say they favor it.”
Support for explicitly Christian prayer in schools was highest in Mississippi (81%), followed by Alabama (75%), Arkansas (75%), Louisiana (74%), and South Carolina (71%). Other states with a majority in favor included Kentucky (67%), Oklahoma (67%), West Virginia (67%), Tennessee (66%), South Dakota (65%), Georgia (63%), North Carolina (61%), North Dakota (61%), and Texas (61%).
Smaller majorities supported such prayer in Indiana (58%), Kansas (58%), Missouri (57%), Florida (56%), Delaware (56%), Nebraska (56%), Wyoming (56%), Idaho (55%), New Mexico (54%), Arizona (53%), Michigan (53%), and Ohio (53%).
Most states with a majority supporting Christian school prayer also voted overwhelmingly for Trump, with exceptions like Delaware and New Mexico, which backed Democrat Kamala Harris, along with Arizona and Michigan, which narrowly supported Trump.
In states like Virginia, which narrowly supported Harris, 52% of those surveyed supported Christian school prayer, while 46% opposed it. In Iowa and Pennsylvania, where Trump’s support was strong, 51% of adults expressed support for Christian school prayer, with 46% opposed.
Maryland reporting that 50% of adults, a state that overwhelmingly backed Harris, supported Christian school prayer, while 48% took the opposite position. Similarly, in the swing state of Nevada and the blue state of Rhode Island, 50% of adults favored school prayer, with 49% respectively opposed.
In Alaska, a red state, exactly one-half (50%) of respondents opposed Christian school prayer, while 49% supported it. In Hawaii, a blue state, support and opposition were split at 46% and 50%. Montana, a red state, and Wisconsin, classified as purple, had opposition levels at 51%, with support at 47%.
Opposition to explicitly Christian school prayer was most pronounced in Washington, D.C., where 69% opposed it. Other areas with high opposition included Oregon (65%), Vermont (64%), Washington state (61%), Connecticut (60%), New Hampshire (60%), Minnesota (59%), Massachusetts (58%), Colorado (58%), California (56%), Maine (55%), Utah (54%), Illinois (54%), New Jersey (53%), and New York (53%).
When the survey respondents were asked about supporting prayers that refer to God but are not tied to any specific religion, 57% expressed support for allowing public school teachers to lead such prayers.
Support for generic school prayer was most prevalent in conservative states, with Mississippi showing 77% support, Arkansas 76%, Alabama 74%, Louisiana 74%, South Carolina 74%, and Tennessee 69%.
Furthermore, with the exception of Georgia (68%), North Carolina (64%), where a supermajority favored the practice, and Delaware (60%), where a majority supported it, most states where a large number of adults supported generic school prayer also voted for Trump by double-digit margins.
Also, Support for such prayer among adults was found in states including Arizona (59%), Kansas (59%), Idaho (58%), Missouri (58%), Michigan (57%), New Mexico (57%), Ohio (57%), Iowa (56%), Pennsylvania (56%), Virginia (56%), Nevada (55%), Rhode Island (55%), Utah (55%), Alaska (54%), and Maryland (54%).
