I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
According to a study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, New Mexicans are slightly less religious than folks in other states around the nation. Out of those polled, 53 percent of New Mexicans say religion is very important in their lives, ranking New Mexico 28th.
The poll also found that 71 percent of New Mexicans are “absolutely certain” that God exists, equal to the national average.
The poll, however, has a very small sample size in New Mexico (just 228 residents) and a high margin of error, at plus or minus 7.8 percent.
New Mexico ranks lower, 32nd, in the amount of residents who attend church services at least once a week. Just 32 percent of New Mexicans say that they attend church at least once a week.
Tom Jensen, the director of another firm, Public Policy Polling, wrote “the relationship between religiosity and Republicanism in Pew’s newest rankings of the most religious states is pretty remarkable.”
14 of the 15 most religious states voted for John McCain, the only exception being North Carolina where Barack Obama just barely squeaked through.
At the same time Obama won 23 of the 27 least religious states, with the most notable exception being Alaska which is near the bottom of the list but still voted for McCain.
The Pew Forum combined states with sample sizes that are too small to analyze (for example the sparsely populated Montana and Wyoming are combined), making the lowest ranking is 46 rather than 50.
The poll data came from the Pew Forum’s 2007 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey.
