Americans who report being dissatisfied with the influence of religion were asked if they would like to see organized religion have more influence, less influence or keep its influence as it is now. Most of this dissatisfied group, equating to 22% of all Americans, say they would prefer less influence, while 8% would like to see organized religion have more influence.

Over time, the group of Americans who are dissatisfied and want religion to have less influence has consistently been larger than the group who are dissatisfied and want it to have more influence. The gap between these groups grew bigger as overall satisfaction with the influence of organized religion dropped in 2005. There has been little meaningful change in these trend lines in more recent years.