Many Americans are uncomfortable with the Mormon religion — yet Mitt Romney, who is Mormon, is the clear front-runner for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday.
The nationwide survey asked voters to rate their comfort levels with the faiths of presidential candidates: Eighty-three percent said they were entirely or somewhat comfortable with Roman Catholics, 80 percent with Jews, 67 percent with evangelical Christians and 60 percent with Mormons.
But 36 percent said they were uncomfortable with Mormons. Only atheists and Muslims drew higher discomfort ratings.
<!— story_feature_box.comp —><!— /story_feature_box.comp —>
In addition, 45 percent said they had favorable opinions of the Mormon religion, with 32 percent saying their views were unfavorable.
Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, addressed his religion when he ran for president in 2008, saying in a December 2007 speech, “I do not define my candidacy by my religion. A person should not be elected because of his faith nor rejected because of his faith.”
Another Mormon, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, could soon join Romney in the 2012 race.
They are likely to have to address the issue of their faith openly.
“The fact that less than half of voters have a favorable view of the religion is likely to be a political issue that Governor Mitt Romney, and should his campaign catch on, Governor Jon Huntsman, will have to deal with as they pursue the White House,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
Among self-identified Republicans, Romney has a big lead over other potential GOP candidates. His 25 percent topped former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, at 15 percent. She has not said whether she will run.
Trailing were businessman Herman Cain, 9 percent; former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas US Rep. Ron Paul, 8 percent each; Minnesota US Rep. Michele Bachmann, 6 percent; former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, 5 percent; former Pennsylvania US Sen. Rick Santorum, 4 percent; former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, 1 percent. Another 20 percent are undecided. Bachmann has not announced whether she will run, but is expected to do so this month.
The survey showed that if the election were held today, President Barack Obama would beat all the major GOP candidates, topping Romney by 47-41 percent, and Huntsman 48-34 percent.
The survey polled 1,946 registered voters from May 31 to June 6. The margin of error is 2.2 percentage points. Republican primary questions comprised 830 people with a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.
© 2011 McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
Truthout has licensed this content. It may not be reproduced by any other source and is not covered by our Creative Commons license.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.