US Voters Prefer Religious Presidential Candidates, Poll Finds

From Catholic World News:

Jun. 15, 2007 (CWNews.com) - A substantial majority of American voters believe that their president should be a religious believer. But the voters themselves are evenly split on whether their faith influences their political views, according to a new opinion poll.

A survey by the Sacred Heart University Polling Institute found that 60.7% of respondents felt that a presidential candidate should be religious; only 39.3% disagreed with that preference.

Almost half of those polled-- 48.4%-- said that their religious beliefs often or sometimes influence their own political views. But an identical 48.4% said that their faith seldom or never influences their views.

While the survey showed a preference for candidates who are religious, 66.0% of those who responded said that a candidate's specific religious affiliation would not influence their decision on whether or not to support him. But a substantial minority-- 27.8%-- said that they would consider the candidate's religious attachments.

Jerry C. Lindsley, director of the Sacred Heart University Polling Institute, pointed out that the number of people planning to consider a candidate's religious affiliation, while a minority, still represents a large bloc of potential voters. The 27.8% figure, he noted, "represents nearly 34 million people, based on the 2004 voter turnout, who will consider the particular religious denomination of such candidates as former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, a Mormon."

My Comments:
Which would explain the need of the Democrat candidates to come together in a series of "faith forums" to pretend to "be all religious and stuff".