Ancestry and religion

[King of Kensington]

The NORC General Social Survey asks ancestry and religion and data is available up until 2014.  Sample sizes for individual years are small so I did 2010-2014.  I combined French and French Canadian and the Scandinavian groups.

General Social Survey (2010-2014)

English (537)  Protestant 65%, Catholic 9%, none 20%
French/French Canadian (133)  Protestant 37%, Catholic 33%, none 19%
German (758) Protestant 54%, Catholic 20%, none 20%
Irish (638)  Protestant 43%, Catholic 28%, none 22%
Italian (298)  Catholic 48%, Protestant 19%, none 22%
Polish (124)  Catholic 57%, Protestant 11%, none 18%
Scandinavian (156)  Protestant 59%, Catholic 10%, none 21%
Scottish (146)  Protestant 57%, Catholic 9%, none 24%

Available here:  https://sda.berkeley.edu/sdaweb/analysis/?dataset=gss14nw

I posted some earlier data but that should be ignored as I imputed the codes wrong. 

[mileslunn]

The NORC General Social Survey asks ancestry and religion and data is available up until 2014.  Sample sizes for individual years are small so I did 2010-2014.  I combined French and French Canadian and the Scandinavian groups.

General Social Survey (2010-2014)

English (537)  Protestant 65%, Catholic 9%, none 20%
French/French Canadian (133)  Protestant 37%, Catholic 33%, none 19%
German (758) Protestant 54%, Catholic 20%, none 20%
Irish (638)  Protestant 43%, Catholic 28%, none 22%
Italian (298)  Catholic 48%, Protestant 19%, none 22%
Polish (124)  Catholic 57%, Protestant 11%, none 18%
Scandinavian (156)  Protestant 59%, Catholic 10%, none 21%
Scottish (146)  Protestant 57%, Catholic 9%, none 24%

Available here:  https://sda.berkeley.edu/sdaweb/analysis/?dataset=gss14nw

I posted some earlier data but that should be ignored as I imputed the codes wrong.
 

French is shocking as in Canada (most came via Canada not directly from France) virtually all those of French ancestry are Catholic or none.  Irish probably only because many are actually Scots-Irish.  I suspect in South its probably overwhelmingly Protestant while in Northeast probably majority Catholic.  For Polish while most Catholic, I am surprised Jewish isn't included unless most Jews whose family came to US from Poland just identify as Jewish but I believe US unlike Canada doesn't have that option. 

[King of Kensington]

The Jewish sample was very small (just 75 respondents).  31% reported origins in Russia, 13% in Poland and 8% in Germany.  8% of those whose country of origin was Poland were Jewish (only 1% for those of German ancestry).

[King of Kensington]

And yes significant regional differences for Irish:

Northeast (135)  Catholic 51%, Protestant 15%, none 29%
Midwest (147)  Protestant 44%, Catholic 30%, none 20%
South (238)  Protestant 61%, Catholic 16%, none 14%
West (118)  Protestant 39%, Catholic 21%, none 31%

[mileslunn]

And yes significant regional differences for Irish:

Northeast (135)  Catholic 51%, Protestant 15%, none 29%
Midwest (147)  Protestant 44%, Catholic 30%, none 20%
South (238)  Protestant 61%, Catholic 16%, none 14%
West (118)  Protestant 39%, Catholic 21%, none 31%

I am guessing most who say Catholic are from the Republic of Ireland while most who say Protestant are actually Ulster and come from either Northern Ireland or counties that border it.  Although for Midwest I suspect even there depends on state and location.  In Chicago which has large Irish community, pretty sure most are Catholic and likely same with Detroit, Cleveland, Milwaukee.  By contrast those living in downstate Illinois probably heavily Protestant like South. 

In West very few Irish directly moved there and most came from other parts of US thus why mixed.  In San Francisco where a lot came from Boston, probably more Catholic while Seattle where more from Midwest probably mostly Protestant.

[mileslunn]

What is happening with the French/French Canadian as I would assume they would be heavily Catholic or perhaps none, but a plurality being Protestant is pretty surprising considering how in Canada Protestants practically non-existent amongst French.  Sure back in 1700s you had the Huguenots who were Protestant move to US (Couldn't move to Canada) but not sure that group is that big and most probably a mix of many ethnicities so either just identify as American or English

[King of Kensington]

The sample size for French and French Canadians is small.  In New England most say they are French Canadian and are Catholic.  

[mileslunn]

The sample size for French and French Canadians is small.  In New England most say they are French Canadian and are Catholic.  There are also Americans of French Huguenot ancestry but I don't think their numbers are very big. 

Makes sense.  In Louisiana other place with a lot of French ancestry, most there are Catholic as Louisiana I believe has largest Catholic population amongst Southern states.

[King of Kensington]

Scots-Irish ancestry, though small in numbers reporting, could be a decent proxy measure for Irish Protestant.  The higher proportion of Scots-Irish in the Irish+Scots-Irish combined population, the more Protestant overall.
 

[King of Kensington]

To run the data tables, I put in "ethnic" in the row and "relig" in the column.  In the selection filters, I put in year(2010-2014).

The data is also broken down into the 9 census divisions.  If you want to do this for New England for example write "year(2010-2014), region(1)."

[100% pro-life no matter what]

And yes significant regional differences for Irish:

Northeast (135)  Catholic 51%, Protestant 15%, none 29%
Midwest (147)  Protestant 44%, Catholic 30%, none 20%
South (238)  Protestant 61%, Catholic 16%, none 14%
West (118)  Protestant 39%, Catholic 21%, none 31%

I am guessing most who say Catholic are from the Republic of Ireland while most who say Protestant are actually Ulster and come from either Northern Ireland or counties that border it.  Although for Midwest I suspect even there depends on state and location.  In Chicago which has large Irish community, pretty sure most are Catholic and likely same with Detroit, Cleveland, Milwaukee.  By contrast those living in downstate Illinois probably heavily Protestant like South. 

In West very few Irish directly moved there and most came from other parts of US thus why mixed.  In San Francisco where a lot came from Boston, probably more Catholic while Seattle where more from Midwest probably mostly Protestant.

In addition to families like my mom's (technically Irish but always Protestant and historically mostly loyal to England), there's also the factor that many people of Irish Catholic ancestry later converted to Protestantism (or their parents/grandparents did).  And, that's probably more likely outside of the culturally Irish Catholic Northeastern metros.

[King of Kensington]

Yes, I posted this in another thread:

Defining an "Irish American" is no easy task.  Irish American communities and organizations are for the most part Catholic.  But of the 40 million or so Americans Protestants outnumber Catholics.  A distinction is often made between the earlier Protestant Scotch-Irish who immigrated earlier and the Catholic Irish who dominated immigration from the mid-19th century onward - treated often as two separate ethnic groups.  The latter are what most have in mind when the term is used (since the Protestants assimilated easily into - or were always a part of - the Anglo Protestant majority).  But not all the Protestants are from the colonial or Scotch-Irish stock.  A lot of Irish Catholics outside the Northeast either converted or married WASPs and raised children Protestant.

[King of Kensington]

Northeast

German  Protestant 48%, Catholic 16%, none 20%
Irish  Catholic 51%, Protestant 15%, none 29%
Italian  Catholic 67%, Protestant 11%, none 15%
Polish  Catholic 60%, Protestant 6%, none 19% 

Midwest

German  Protestant 56%, Catholic 25%, none 16%
Irish  Protestant 44%, Catholic 30%, none 20%
Italian  Catholic 42%, Protestant 10%, none 33%
Polish  Catholic 68%, Protestant 8%, none 19%

(Be cautious of small sample sizes)

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Yes, I posted this in another thread:

Defining an "Irish American" is no easy task.  Irish American communities and organizations are for the most part Catholic.  But of the 40 million or so Americans Protestants outnumber Catholics.  A distinction is often made between the earlier Protestant Scotch-Irish who immigrated earlier and the Catholic Irish who dominated immigration from the mid-19th century onward - treated often as two separate ethnic groups.  The latter are what most have in mind when the term is used (since the Protestants assimilated easily into - or were always a part of - the Anglo Protestant majority).  But not all the Protestants are from the colonial or Scotch-Irish stock.  A lot of Irish Catholics outside the Northeast either converted or married WASPs and raised children Protestant.

Yes, this is very true.  My dad's family (Irish Catholics who came over in the 1800s) and my mom's family (Scotch-Irish Protestants who came over before the Revolution) are basically two completely different heritages.  Even though I could say that I'm virtually entirely Irish (with a bit of Scottish mixed in), those are two very different cultural heritages.

[King of Kensington]

Obviously some are both, but for simplicity's sake let's say 20 million Americans are descended from the 19th century and later Irish immigration.  Of them, it wouldn't surprise me if a quarter of them or more are Protestant, as outside the Northeast Protestantism is the norm to assimilate to.  Another quarter are likely nonaffiliated something else.  According to these GSS figures, around 11 million Americans identify as Catholic and have Irish ancestry. 

[King of Kensington]

I too am a bit struck by the French figures, since Franco Americans are much more concentrated geographically than those of Irish ancestry (and retained a language).  But I guess outside their strongholds of New England and South Louisiana they have assimilated significantly.