Single Americans who describe themselves as “very religious” could struggle to find a match on the dating market, according to new research on romantic trends.

The Survey Center on American Life found that 42% of U.S. adults are less likely to date someone who describes themselves that way, compared to 20% who would be more interested in such a match.

“Despite being a relatively religious country, more Americans say a potential partner being ‘very religious’ is negative than say it is positive,” researchers wrote in the survey report.

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However, not believing in God is an even bigger liability for single adults, since nearly half of Americans (49%) are less likely to date someone who identifies as an atheist.

“Only 12% say not believing in God would make them more inclined to date someone. Thirty-eight percent of Americans say it would not matter to them one way or the other,” researchers wrote.

Americans who are part of a faith group are more likely than the average adult to express concerns about dating someone who doesn’t believe in God. But they’re not “comparably enthusiastic” about finding very religious dates, the Survey Center on American Life found.

For example, while 84% of white evangelical Christians would be less likely to date an atheist, just 56% said they would be more likely to date someone who is very religious, the survey report said.

Similarly, many more religiously unaffiliated adults express concern about dating a very religious person (76%) than express heightened interest in dating someone who doesn’t believe in God (31%).

Political beliefs also seem to influence Americans’ ideas about dating atheists and people of faith, according to the new research. Conservatives are much more interested than liberals in dating someone who identifies as very religious, and conservative women, in particular, care about their dates’ views on God.

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“Three-quarters of conservative women (75%) say they would be less likely to date someone who does not believe in God, with 61% reporting they would be very unlikely to do this,” researchers wrote in the survey report.

The new research on dating builds on past reports from the Survey Center from American Life exploring other marriage- and family-related trends.

This time last year, one of their surveys noted that people of faith are generally more supportive than other Americans of marriage and that members of certain faith groups are more likely to marry within their group than others.

That research showed that nearly 90% of married members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 65% of Catholics and 59% of Jews are part of same-faith marriages, as the Deseret News reported at the time.

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