Most Americans Would Prefer to Have a Religious President According to Poll
Most Americans want a religious president in office according a recent poll released by the Public Religion Research Institute and Religion News Service.
The poll revealed that 56 percent of Americans feel it is important for a president to have strong religious beliefs.
The people used in the study were divided into religious categories. Out of those identifying themselves as white evangelicals, 73 percent believe that a president should have strong religious beliefs, with 74 percent of minority Christians, 57 percent of white mainline Protestants and 57 percent of Catholics in agreement.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
The poll also divided the subjects into political parties. Out of those identifying themselves as Republicans, 71 percent want a religious president, with 51 percent of Democrats in agreement.
Out of Republicans who identified themselves with the tea party, 72 percent feel a president who has religious beliefs would be best for the country.
Also a majority of those who feel a president needs to be religious support candidates such as Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann over Obama. The statistics found rankings of 43 percent to 36 percent in favor of Romney over Obama and ranking 44 percent to 38 percent in favor of Bachmann over Obama.
But according to all Americans used in the poll, Obama was favored overall holding a slight edge over Romney and Bachmann. Just fewer than 50 percent of Americans said they would vote for Obama if the election was today compared to 36 percent who say they would vote for Romney. When pinned against Bachmann 45 percent said they would vote for Obama with 37 percent in support of Bachmann.
The poll also revealed that although most Americans wanted a president with strong religious beliefs, only four in ten of them were able to identify what religious beliefs were held by Romney, with one in five Americans identifying president Obama as a Muslim despite him publically identifying himself as a Christian for many years.
Interviews for the poll were conducted by telephone among a random sample of 1,012 adults living in a private household in the U.S.
The confidence level for the poll is 95 percent with a +/- 3.0 margin for error.
