About one-fifth of those Americans who have personally experienced at least one of six types of online harassment say they believe they were targeted because of their religion. When looking at Americans overall – not just those who’ve been harassed online – that share is equivalent to 8% of the overall population, a modest rise since we last asked these questions in 2017.
Our analysis shows there are some groups who are especially likely to attribute their harassment to their religious beliefs: Of those who say they faced online abuse, 29% of White evangelical Protestants and 21% of atheists say they believe they were the target of online harassment because of their religious beliefs.
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