I typed up a draft brief that didn't make it into the RNS budget today, so I figured I'd post it here. The latest Pew poll shows that religion largely does not matter, because people are already firm in their convictions. This doesn't exactly support the idea that the economy is the election issue par excellence, but I think that's a pretty widespread - if not accurate - truth right now.
* * *
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s religion will not hold
him back in November, according to the Pew Research Center’s latest national survey.
The poll found little voter discomfort
with Romney’s Mormon faith, even though 61 percent said it is “very
different” from their own beliefs.
Six in ten voters correctly identified Romney’s religion as
Mormon, nearly unchanged since the March GOP primaries. The majority of voters
say either they are comfortable with Romney’s religion or that it does not
matter to them, indicating his faith will have little impact in November.
White evangelicals and Republicans were found to
overwhelmingly favor Romney over Obama – regardless of their feelings toward
Romney’s faith.
Meanwhile, fewer voters correctly identified President Barack Obama’s faith – and more got it
wrong – than before his election in 2008. Only 49 percent of Americans polled correctly
identified Obama’s Christian faith. This is an 11-point improvement since 2010,
but still below 2008 levels, when 55 percent correctly identified his religion,
Obama was incorrectly identified as Muslim by 17 percent of
the population, a 2-percentage-point drop from 2008. Conservative Republicans
were especially likely to believe this.
Despite a widespread view that it is
important for a president to have strong religious beliefs, a sizable number
of voters do not know Obama’s or candidate Romney’s
religion.
One-third of voters said they did not
know each candidate’s religion.
The report concluded there is little
evidence to suggest that concerns about the candidates’ respective faiths will
have a meaningful impact in the fall elections.
A July 24 report found most voters say they already know
enough about both candidates.
Posts
