Americans are more satisfied with the influence of organised religion than any of the other six aspects of life in the United States rated in a new Gallup poll, with the exception of “the overall quality of life”.

Fifty-eight percent of Americans are satisfied with the influence of organized religion compared with only 31 perent who are satisfied with the power and size of the Federal Government.

The poll asked US citizens whether they were satisfied with seven aspects of American life: the overall quality of life, the opportunity for a person to get ahead by working hard, the system of government and how well it works, the size and power of the federal government, the moral and ethical climate and the size and influence of major corporations.

In each of the categories, apart from the influence of organised religion, where there was a slight rise in satisfaction, there was a drop from the same figure in 2008.

In some areas, this drop was especially marked. For instance, in 2008, 41 per cent of people expressed satisfaction with the size and power of the US Federal Government. This time around, that figure had plunged to 31 per cent.

By contrast, the number of people expressing satisfaction with the influence of organised religion was 58 per cent, two per cent up on the number expressing satisfaction in 2008.

However, the poll also shows that Americans are split over the role of religion in US society.

According to the poll, 29 per cent of those asked said religion should have more influence and an identical percentage saying it should have less influence. The largest percentage, 39 per cent, said they believed the influence of organised religion was about right.

There have been only small changes in these attitudes over the last decade, although from 2001 to 2004, Americans tilted in the direction of more influence rather than less, and from 2005 to 2008, they showed a slight tilt in the opposite direction.

This is similar to the percentage of Americans who expressed satisfaction with religious influence in 2003 through 2008, but slightly less than in 2001 and 2002.

Of the 36 per cent of Americans who are dissatisfied with the influence of organised religion, most feel that organised religion should have less influence, rather than more.

Attitudes toward the influence of organised religion are strongly related to respondents’ level of religious commitment. Americans who attend church at least monthly are more likely to say organised religion should have more influence.

According to Gallup, “slightly less than half of the most religious group — those who attend church weekly — want organised religion to have more influence.

“Most of the rest are content to leave things as they are now. Conversely, slightly less than half of those who seldom or never attend church say organised religion should have less influence,” its report on the poll’s findings said.

It also pointed out that its question on organised religion “did not specify what was meant by ‘more influence’ or ‘less influence’, leaving open the issue of what respondents may mean when they answer it”.

In general, many Americans today are drifting more toward nondenominational churches and away from identification with formal religion, which means that some may have divergent opinions on the influence of “organised” religion versus a more personal religion.