Wording Changes Shift Religious Counts

Small changes to survey wording and follow‑up questions (for example, listing the church’s full name and dropping a verification follow‑up) can change who self‑identifies in a religious category and thus affect trend comparisons across years. The 2023–24 Religious Landscape Study used the full name “Mormon (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter‑day Saints or LDS)” and did not include the earlier follow‑up that in prior rounds confirmed Church affiliation. — Comparisons of religious identity and related political attitudes across survey waves can be misleading unless analysts account for wording and question‑flow differences that shift identification rates and subgroup margins of error.