Vote, Pray, and Fear: Politics, Religion, and Fear of Crime in Today's United States

Objectives Despite decades of research identifying demographic and contextual predictors of fear of crime, the role of ideological belief systems remains understudied. Given the changing landscape of American politics and religion, this study investigates political conservatism and religious service attendance as predictors of fear of crime. Methods We use the 2024 cross‐sectional General Social Survey (GSS) data and weighted logistic regression models predicting fear of walking alone at night among a nationally representative sample of 1840 US adults. Results Religious attendance and political conservatism are important predictors of fear of crime. Frequent religious service attendance and political conservatism decrease the odds of fearing to walk alone at night, controlling for demographic variables. However, religious service attendance loses statistical significance when political leaning is introduced. Political conservatism remains a significant, consistent predictor of lower fear of crime across all models. Gender is the strongest predictor of fear of crime overall. Conclusions Deeply held beliefs like political leaning and religiosity are linked to fear of crime, and this relationship operates differently for men and women. In the contemporary United States, political identity has become the dominant ideological lens through which individuals think about safety and crime, more so than religious participation.