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SALT LAKE CITY -- A new study shows American voters still somewhat leery of electing a U.S. president who is Mormon. Yet the survey by Quinnipiac University Polling Institute indicates Mitt Romney, a Mormon, leads the pack of GOP contenders.
Catholic - 83%
Jewish - 80%
Evangelical Christian - 67%
Mormon - 60%
Muslim - 38%
Atheist - 37%
Source: Quinnipiac University Polling Institute
The poll shows voters would be more comfortable with a president who is Catholic, Jewish, or evangelical Christian. They would be more uncomfortable with a commander in chief who is Atheist or Muslim. The study shows 45 percent of registered American voters have a favorable view of Mormonism, while 32 percent had an unfavorable view of the faith.
In its poll, Romney trails 41-47 percent in a head-to-head election with Obama. That's contrary to the results of a Washington Post/ABC News poll released Tuesday that showed Romney narrowly defeating the president.
In a blog about the poll, The Wall Street Journal points out that Romney told CNN's Piers Morgan in an interview broadcast Tuesday night, "You don't begin to apply the doctrines of religion to responsibility for guiding a nation or guiding a state."
"One thing I'm not going to do in running for president is become a spokesman for my church or apply a religious test that is simply forbidden by the Constitution. I'm not going there," Romney told CNN.
In a recent study by the Pew Research Center, two-thirds of Americans said Romney's Mormonism doesn't matter.
