The New Nones: An Empirical Study of Dual Religious and Political Non-affiliation

Abstract

While political scientists have investigated political non-affiliation and religious scholars have investigated religious non-affiliation, no work has yet examined the correlates of those identifying as both religiously and politically non-affiliated. Across two separate studies, we investigate the personality, social network, and cultural engagement correlates of political and religious non-affiliates. Some statistically significant effects found in Study 1 fail to replicate in Study 2, though replicated findings provide interesting avenues for future work. Notably, compared to those who report being both politically and religiously affiliated, we find that dual non-affiliates are more socially liberal, more fiscally conservative, far less likely to vote, and less religious across several attitudinal and behavioral measures. Crucially, we find no consistent evidence that dual non-affiliates suffer from social isolation or a lack of social support.