A poll commissioned by the New York-based newsmagazine Newsweek, conducted March 28 – 29 and released March 31, revealed that 91 percent of U.S. adults responded “yes” to the question “Do you believe in God?” and only 3 percent described themselves as atheists.

The poll of 1,004 adults aged 18 and older, conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International based in Princeton, N.J., and Washington, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Roman Catholics made up 21 percent of those polled, the same percentage as non-evangelical Protestants and less than the 35 percent of Evangelicals. Christians made up 82 percent of those surveyed, while 2 percent were Jewish, 1 percent was Muslim and 10 percent were agnostic, atheist or professed no religion.

The Newsweek poll showed Americans split on the influence of religion on American politics and the impact of that influence, and on acceptance of the theory of evolution.

Thirty-two percent of respondents said that religion has too much influence in American politics, though 31 percent said it has too little and 29 percent said its current level of influence is appropriate. Similarly divided, on the question of whether that influence has increased in recent years, 36 percent said “yes,” while 23 percent indicated it has decreased and 37 percent noting it has “stayed about the same.”

Nearly half – 48 percent – of the public rejects the scientific theory of evolution, seeing “God created humans pretty much in the present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so. Forty-three percent see that the “origin and development of human beings … developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life,” either by God guiding the process – 30 percent of those polled – or without God having any role – 13 percent.

Among Catholics, 53 percent believe in the theory of evolution (42 percent in a God-guided process and 11 percent without God’s involvement) and 41 percent seeing mankind as created in its present form without an evolutionary process.

The poll results indicated that about half of those questioned – 49 percent – “personally know” an atheist and see the United States as “more accepting” of atheism – 47 percent, with 9 percent saying “less accepting” and 38 percent seeing it as about the same. More than two in three – 68 percent – agreed with the statement that “someone can be a moral person and be an atheist.”

The Newsweek poll suggested that a profession of faith in God and political office are connected, as respondents by 62 to 29 percent saying they would not vote for a political candidate who says he or she is an atheist.

The poll also indicated that two-thirds (66 percent) of adult Americans are “dissatisfied with the way things are going in the United States,” while only 28 percent were satisfied, and by 60 – 33 percent disapproved of the way U.S. President “George W. Bush is handling his job as president.”

The Princeton Survey Research was founded in 1989. It s clients include: the Pew Research Center, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, the Annenberg Public Policy Center, Newsweek magazine, NBC News, the World Bank and the Knight-Ridder newspapers.