• A recent survey of likely Utah voters found very strong support for the proposition that religious freedom is a net benefit for society, even among those who are not religious.
• Voters generally think religious freedom is adequately protected, but a significant minority, particularly of religious voters, think more could be done.
• Likely voters in Utah tend to be more pessimistic about religious protections and the health of religion generally in the United States compared with Utah.

​Utah is a religious state. In fact, measured in terms of the proportion of religious adherents in the state’s population, Utah is the most religious state in the United States. So it is not surprising that the Sutherland Institute 2024 Religious Freedom Survey found overwhelming support (82%) for the belief that religious freedom is a net positive for society. For the survey, Y² Analytics polled 642 likely Utah voters.

Religious freedom

Only 3% of the likely Utah voters believe religious freedom is a net negative for society. There is some variation in attitudes based on the respondents’ religious and political beliefs.

For members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, belief that religious freedom is a net positive is extremely high (94%). For those of other faiths, it is still very high (85%). Although those who identify as not religious are less likely to have that positive view (62% saying it was a net positive), support is still quite strong among this group.

When grouped by personal religious devotion (measured by church attendance and involvement in religious practices), the positive view of religious freedom is very similar – 96% of the very religious, 89% of the somewhat religious, and 62% of the not at all religious.

Grouped by political ideology, support is also quite strong. Conservative voters endorse the positive view overwhelmingly (94% among strong conservatives and 90% among moderates). Moderately liberal voters have almost the same rate of support (87%), while “middle of the road” voters (76%) and strongly liberal voters (67%) are somewhat less likely to view religious freedom as a net positive, though voters in these categories still offer strong support.

In one interesting finding, almost all age groups endorse religious freedom as a net positive. All are around 79%, except for one group: young people ages 18-34 – 95% of whom reported a net positive perception.

Many of these breakdowns are not surprising, since religious voters who would be expected to benefit from protection of their freedom to practice their religion would also be expected to endorse that protection. Many of the most widely reported religious freedom conflicts have involved religious teachings that have some overlap with conservative views, so the ideological breakdown was reasonably predictable.

By contrast, there is evidence that young people are less likely to be religious, so their overwhelming support for religious freedom might be surprising. But perhaps they just have a healthy support for allowing others to practice their beliefs. They might also be more likely to have seen religious disputes up close and thus recognize the need to mediate those challenges (as older people may be expected to interact more with people whose perspectives are similar to their own).

Current religious liberty protections

Just under half of Utah voters think Utah is getting it right in terms of these protections, but it is striking that nearly one-third believe the state could be doing better.

Utah’s Legislature has recently enacted important religious freedom protections. The survey results suggest that the legislative effort to provide more robust protections are responsive to a need felt among a sizeable proportion of the state.

Interestingly, liberal voters are most polarized on this issue. Nearly half expressed the opinion that religious freedom gets too much protection (48%), but the liberal-voter category also has the largest proportion of voters who think religious freedom is not protected enough (37%, compared with 32% of conservative and 30% of middle-of-the-road voters). Conservatives are far more comfortable with the current state of protections (65%).

There is a more significant difference among voters grouped by religiosity. Among both very religious and somewhat religious individuals, 38% think religious freedom deserves more protection (only 19% of nonreligious voters agreed). Only a tiny proportion of very religious voters (3%) think religious freedom is too protected. Nonreligious voters are significantly more likely to see religious freedom as getting too much protection, (62%) compared with somewhat religious voters (17%).

This latter finding suggests that people of faith should work to explain why religious freedom protections are good for all people, whether religious or not.

As with the general outlook on religious freedom, younger voters stand out. Only 2% think religious freedom is protected too much, and 32% believe it is not protected enough. The only age group more likely to think religious freedom is not protected enough is 55- to 64-year-olds. About a third of the 35-44 and 45-54 categories believe religious freedom gets too much protection.

Utah versus nation

Some of the survey questions asked voters to compare their perceptions of the strength of religious freedom protections and of religion generally in Utah and in the United States. Likely Utah voters seem to believe that the state could be a model of religious freedom protections and of religious strength for the nation.

Likely voters are significantly more likely to think that religious freedom is not protected enough in the United States (45%) versus Utah (31%).

They also believe that religious organizations are stronger in Utah than in the United States overall, with 79% saying religious organizations are either very strong or extremely strong in Utah, compared with 44% saying this is true for the United States.

Interestingly, respondents are less sanguine about religious activity, with only 15% saying it is somewhat or very much increasing in Utah and 12% saying this is the case nationally. Voters have a perception that religious activity is decreasing somewhat or very much, though they see the decline as more marked nationally (28% say it is decreasing very much and 50% somewhat) than in Utah (8% very much and 58% somewhat).

This may reflect a mixed perception whereby respondents interact with robust religious organizations and so feel they must be strong but also are exposed to online stories about personal faith crises, which may magnify a sense of individual loss of commitment.

Conclusion

Utah voters overwhelmingly believe religious freedom is a benefit to society across all categories, particularly among religious and young voters. About half believe current religious freedom protections are adequate, but a significant minority – particularly of religious voters – think more could be done. Likely Utah voters tend to be more pessimistic about religious protections and about the health of religion generally in the United States compared with Utah.