When asked about their national leader’s connection to religion, people are generally more likely to say it is very important to have a leader of their country who stands up for people with their religious beliefs than to have a leader whose religious beliefs are the same as their own, or to have a leader who has strong religious beliefs even if they are not the same as their own.3
In Kenya, for instance, 62% of adults say it is very important to have a president who stands up for people with their religious beliefs. Meanwhile, 55% of Kenyans say it is very important for their president to share their religious beliefs. And 54% of Kenyans say it is very important to have a president who has strong religious beliefs, even if those beliefs differ from their own.
People in middle-income countries tend to be more likely than people in high-income countries to say each of these things is very important in a national leader.
Views of these qualities are tied to how people otherwise engage with religion:
- Those who are affiliated with a religion (such as Christianity) are consistently more likely than the religiously unaffiliated to say each trait is very important for their country’s leader to have.
- People who pray daily are more likely than people who pray less often to view these traits as very important.
- Adults who think religion helps society are more likely than those who think religion hurts society to say these religion-related traits are very important in a national leader.
How important is it to have leaders who stand up for people’s religious beliefs?
A median of 30% across the 35 countries where we asked this question think having a leader who stands up for people with their religious beliefs is very important. People in middle-income countries are considerably more likely to say this than people in high-income countries.
For example, in Bangladesh and Indonesia, around seven-in-ten adults say it’s very important to have a prime minister or president, respectively, who stands up for people who share their beliefs. Large shares in several other South and Southeast Asian countries also say this is very important, as do about half of adults or more in the African nations surveyed.
In many high-income countries, though, fewer tend to say it’s very important to have a leader who stands up for people with their religious beliefs. Only 11% of adults in France and 5% in Japan say this trait is very important in their president or prime minister, respectively.
And 51% of Spanish adults say it is not at all important to have a prime minster who stands up for people with their religious beliefs.
Chile, Israel and the U.S. stand out among the high-income countries surveyed. In all three, about three-in-ten adults say it is very important that their national leader stands up for people with their religious beliefs.
Views by education
Across many of the surveyed countries, people who have lower levels of education are more likely than those with higher levels of education to say it is very important to have a leader who stands up for people with their religious beliefs. (This difference persists even after statistically controlling for religiousness.)
In Turkey, for example, 61% of adults with lower levels of education say it is very important to have a president who stands up for people with their religious beliefs. This share falls to 37% among Turkish adults who have higher levels of education.
How important is it to have leaders who share people’s religious beliefs?
We also asked people whether it’s important that their national leader have the same religious beliefs as they do. A 35-country median of 22% say this is very important.
Adults in the 17 middle-income countries (48% median) are generally more likely than adults in the 18 high-income countries (10% median) to say having a leader who shares their religious beliefs is very important. Majorities in six middle-income countries say this, including about three-quarters of adults in Bangladesh and Indonesia.
Meanwhile, in every high-income country surveyed, about a quarter of the public or less take this position. For instance, 12% of U.S. adults say it is very important to have a president who shares their religious beliefs.
And in eight high-income countries, half or more say it is not at all important that their leader have the same religious beliefs they do. In Sweden, the share holding this view reaches 68%.
Europeans who support right-wing populist parties are more likely than nonsupporters to say a leader having the same religious beliefs as them is very important. (For more on populist parties, refer to the Appendix.) In Germany, 17% of those who express a favorable opinion of Alternative for Germany (AfD) say this is a very important trait for their chancellor to have, while only 6% of Germans with an unfavorable view of AfD agree.
As with other attitudes discussed in this chapter, adults with less education are more likely than those with higher levels of education to say it is very important that their leader have the same beliefs as they do.
Views by religion
Adults who are affiliated with a religion are consistently more likely than the religiously unaffiliated (those who identify as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular”) to say it is very important to have a national leader who shares their same religious beliefs.
This dynamic is readily apparent in countries that have sizable populations of both Christians and religiously unaffiliated people. In Chile, for example, Christians are about three times as likely as the unaffiliated to say having a president with the same beliefs as them is very important (26% vs. 8%).
In a few middle-income countries, though, religiously unaffiliated adults are more likely than the religiously affiliated in high-income countries to say this is a very important trait for their national leader to have.
For instance, 33% of unaffiliated adults in middle-income South Africa say it is very important to have a president who shares their religious beliefs. This surpasses the percentage of Christians who say this about national leaders in high-income South Korea (20%), Poland (16%) and France (8%).
Muslims in the surveyed countries tend to be among the most likely to say it is very important to have a leader who shares their religious beliefs. But in India, Hindus are more likely than Muslims to hold this view (63% vs. 53%).
How important is it to have leaders with strong religious beliefs?
We also asked respondents how important it is for the leader of their country to have strong religious beliefs in general, even if the leader’s beliefs differ from their own.
In many countries, no more than about a quarter of adults say this quality is very important in a leader. This is the case in all the high-income countries surveyed, as well as in Thailand, Turkey and a few middle-income countries in Latin America.
In Australia and France, for example, 7% say it is very important that their prime minister or president, respectively, have strong religious beliefs, even if the beliefs differ from their own.
People in South and Southeast Asia and in Africa tend to see this trait as more important. For instance, 56% of Indonesians and 54% of Kenyans say it is very important to have a president with strong religious beliefs, even if the president’s beliefs differ from their own.
Views by religiousness
In most of the countries surveyed, adults who pray at least daily are significantly more likely than those who pray less often to say it is very important to have a national leader with strong religious beliefs.
In the UK, for instance, 29% of adults who pray daily say this trait in a prime minister is very important, compared with 6% of Britons who pray less often.
And 44% of Peruvian adults who pray daily say it is very important to have a president with strong religious beliefs, while 25% of Peruvians who pray less often hold this view.
