Black adults who worship in multiracial congregations are three times as likely to be politically disengaged as black adults in black congregations, according to a Brookings Institution study published on 12 October 2026.

Drawing on earlier studies and national surveys, assistant professor of social work at Rutgers University, Dr Ryon Cobb, found that about 60 per cent of religiously active black adults attend black congregations, about a quarter attend multiracial ones, and 13 per cent attend white or other congregations.

Those attending white congregations were twice as likely as those attending black congregations to be politically disengaged and more than twice as likely to lean towards voting for the Republican Party. 

Among the black adults in black congregations, 90 per cent identified as Democrats, 7 per cent considered themselves Republican and 3 per cent were politically unaffiliated.

Black members who attended multiracial congregations were three times as likely to be politically disengaged, and those in predominantly white congregations were twice as likely not to prioritise politics and issues associated with it and more than twice as likely to vote for the Republican Party.

Cobb discounted upbringing in explaining the gap.

“Black-majority congregations forge political identity through sermons, shared experience, and collective action. When people exit those spaces, the politics go with them," he said.

Referring to earlier studies on the subject, he also went on to separate the goal of integration from political activism and said being a multi-racial congregation did not mean setting racial justice aside. He encouraged black-led multi-racial congregations to reference racial justice in their sermons and teach about black history within the contexts of worship and teaching Scripture.