These poll numbers were released earlier today by Rasmussen Reports -- "an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information."
10% Would Base Their Vote On A Candidate's Religion
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Voters say overwhelmingly that they would not vote for or against a political candidate solely because of the religion he or she practices.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 10% of Likely U.S. Voters would vote for or against a candidate because of the latter's religious faith. Eighty percent (80%) would not base their vote on a candidate's religion. Eleven percent (11%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here .)
Democrats (85%) and voters not affiliated with either major party (81%) are more emphatic than Republicans (73%) about not voting solely on the basis of candidate's faith.
Nearly one-in-five Evangelical Christians (18%) and 13% of other Protestants say they would base their vote solely on the religion a candidate practices. Just six percent (6%) of Catholics and five percent (5%) of voters of other faiths agree.
Eighty percent (80%) of Evangelical Christians and 61% of other Protestants rate a political candidate's religious faith as at least somewhat important in terms of how they will vote. For 64% of Catholics and 61% of those of other faiths, a candidate's religion is not very important in determining their vote.
Among all voters, 51% say a candidate's faith is at least somewhat important to their vote, with 19% who rate it Very Important. But nearly as many (48%) feel a candidate's religion is not important to determining how they will vote, including 22% who say it is Not At All Important.
This marks a slight shift from November 2009 when 47% said a candidate's faith was important to their vote, while 52% felt otherwise.
The national survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on June 28-29, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC . See methodology .
Two Mormons - Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman - are seeking the Republican presidential nomination, and some have questioned whether their religious faith will be a liability as political analyst Susan Estrich discusses in a recent column.
Forty-three percent (43%) of voters said in a November 2006 survey that they would never even consider voting for a Mormon presidential candidate . Thirty-eight percent (38%) would consider casting such a vote, while 19% were not sure.
Sixty-nine percent (69%) of voters say they are at least somewhat aware of the religious faiths of political candidates, including 27% who are Very Aware. Just 26% say they are not very or not at all aware of the candidates' religions.
Thirty-three percent (33%) of voters think religious leaders have too much influence on U.S. government policy, down slightly from 38% in December and more in line with findings in November 2009. Twenty-one percent (21%) believe religious leaders don't influence policy enough, while 31% feel the level of influence they have is about right. Fourteen percent (14%) are not sure.
Evangelical Christians believe much more strongly than those in other religious demographics that religious leaders do not have enough influence over government policy.
Sixty-one percent (61%) of Republicans consider a candidate's religious faith important in determining how they will vote. Fifty-three percent (53%) of both Democrats and unaffiliated voters say a candidate's religion is not important to their vote.
Pluralities of Democrats (42%) and unaffiliateds (37%) think religious leaders have too much influence over government policy, a view shared by just 20% of GOP voters.
Political Class voters are nearly twice as likely as those in the Mainstream to feel that religious leaders have too much influence over policy. Fifty-six percent (56%) of Mainstream voters view a candidate's religion as important in determining how they will vote; 52% of the Political Class do not.
Seventy-three percent (73%) of Americans say religious faith is at least somewhat important in their daily life , including 54% who say it's Very Important. But 79% of adults don't want religious leaders suggesting whom they should vote for .