A strong majority of Americans view family time as “very important” or “one of the most important” things in their lives, “far outranking other personal priorities,” a recent Pew Research Center survey found.
Roughly three-quarters (73 percent) of Americans rate spending time with family as one of the most important things to them personally, no matter how much time they actually spend with family.
“Nine-in-ten say they view it either as one of the most important things or as very important but not the most important thing,” according to the survey report.
No other personal priority in the survey garnered over a third of Americans ranking them as among the most important things to them. However, a great percentage say being physically active (74 percent), being outdoors (72 percent), and having career success (66 percent) are “at least very important to them,” the survey found.
Americans “largely share similar personal priorities” regardless of political affiliation, the survey found. Both Republicans and Democrats rank spending time with family as a top priority, and respondents from both parties place high value on physical activity and being outdoors. Roughly two-thirds of both parties value career success.
Pew Research Center also asked respondents to rate the importance of religious faith in their lives.
“Americans are split on the importance of practicing a religious faith: Half rate it as at least very important to them personally, while 21 percent say it is somewhat important and around three-in-ten (28 percent) say it is not important,” according to the survey report.
The survey found that younger adults are less likely than older adults to rate practicing religious faith as at least very important
“Six-in-ten of those 65 and older rate it as such, as do 56 percent of those 50 to 64 and around half (48 percent) of adults 30 to 49. About four-in-ten adults ages 18 to 29 say the same (37 percent),” the survey found.
Those results are similar to a late-March Wall Street Journal-NORC poll, which found that young people are less likely to prioritize religion than older generations.
By political affiliation, Republicans and right-leaning independents are more likely than Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents to say practicing a religious faith is at least very important to them personally (61 to 40 percent). However, Democrats tend to value creative activities more than Republicans (52 to 35 percent), as well as being involved in social or political causes (35 to 21 percent).
Pew Research Center surveyed 5,079 U.S. adults between March 27 to April 2.
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