As many as 81% of Indian adults said it is important for their Prime Minister to have religious beliefs that are the same as their own, according to the results of a recent survey conducted by the Pew Research Centre (PEW). A similar share also said that it is important to have a Prime Minister who stood up for people who share their religious beliefs. PEW had conducted the survey across 35 countries between January and May 2024 among 53,000 respondents.
Chart 1 shows the share of adults who said it is very/somewhat important to have a leader of their country who has strong religious beliefs, even if those are different from their own.
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In general, the share of respondents who shared similar views was highest in certain South Asian, Southeast Asian, and African countries. It was lowest in North America and Europe. South America was in the middle. Even within Asia, the share of respondents who held similar views was much lower in economically advanced countries such as Japan, South Korea, and Singapore.
It is important to note that in this measure, the share of those who answered “yes, it’s important/somewhat important” was not very low even among advanced Western countries. For instance, in the U.S., close to half of the respondents (48%) said their President should have strong religious beliefs, even if those are different from their own. In Singapore, the corresponding figure was 45%.
Chart 2 shows the share of adults who said it is important that their country’s leader shares their religious beliefs
However, when asked whether it was important for their leader to have beliefs that are the same as their own, as shown in Chart 2, there was a notable drop among respondents in western countries and economically stronger Asian countries who answered that it was “important/somewhat important”. The share of respondents who said so in the U.S. was lower at 37%. In Singapore, the corresponding share was 36%.
Among countries that were relatively weaker economically in Southeast Asia and South Asia, such as India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand, the share of those who said it was important/somewhat important that their leader should have strong religious beliefs, even if those are different from their own, was much higher than the share in the west. Moreover, the share of those who said that their leader should have beliefs that are the same as their own was even higher. So, not only do Asians in countries that are relatively weaker economically want their leader to have religious beliefs, but a higher share of them want the leader to share their beliefs, which is in contrast to western nations.
Chart 3 shows the share of adults who said it is important for a country’s leader to stand up for those with their beliefs.
When asked whether their leader should stand up for people with their religious beliefs , the share of respondents who said it was important/somewhat important increased in western countries. About 64% of respondents in the U.S. said they want their leader to stand up for people who share their religious beliefs and 50% said the same in Singapore. The only outliers were France, Japan and South Korea, where less than 30% each shared similar views.
PEW also asked people who were not affiliated with any religion whether they want their leader to have religious beliefs that are the same as their own .
Chart 4 shows the share of religiously unaffiliated adults who though it was important for a country’s leader to share their beliefs
Understandably, very few of them said that it was a “very/somewhat important” criteria. As the sample of such respondents in India was too low, they were not plotted.
PEW conducted the survey in India face-to-face among 3,559 people, across most States, except some in the Northeast and in some Union Territories.
Source: PEW Research Centre
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Published - September 05, 2024 08:00 am IST
