Most traditional barriers to religion in presidential elections have toppled, a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll has found. In particular, the survey to be released Monday showed that anti-Semitism and anti-Catholicism are fading as voter taboos.
But uneasiness about some religions persists, especially for a Muslim or Mormon candidate.
“This clearly shows that the old Protestant/Catholic/Jewish distinction has largely eroded in American politics,” said David Campbell, a professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame. “That doesn’t mean that candidates from religious groups that might be considered to be exotic, in the way that Catholics once were thought to be exotic, wouldn’t necessarily be confronted with challenges.”
The nationwide survey of 1,321 adults was conducted June 24-27. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
With no likely Muslim candidate on the presidential horizon, the poll numbers present the greatest threat to a potential contender from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as the Mormon Church is formally known. Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is a Mormon who is exploring a run for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.
“It is something he will have to address,” said Merle Black, a professor of politics at Emory University. “It will be a challenge. It doesn’t necessarily kill him as a candidate, but he may have to talk in more detail than he ever has before about his faith.”
His religion apparently was no detriment in Massachusetts in 2002, when he easily won election as governor. Massachusetts is one of the most heavily Catholic states in the country, and also one of the most Democratic.
The governor’s late father, George Romney, was a three-term governor of Michigan who also made an unsuccessful run for the 1968 Republican presidential nomination.
Romney is reluctant to discuss his religion, citing privacy and contending that candidates should not be judged on their “brand of faith.”
Some branches of Christianity are less than eager to embrace the Mormon Church.
Republican political consultant Mike Murphy, who advised Romney in his gubernatorial bid, said any discussion about Romney’s religion as a potential political obstacle was premature–and probably misplaced.
If his religion was the only thing voters knew about Romney in a “hypothetical candidacy,” that could be an impediment, Murphy said.
“If he runs, I think he won’t be judged only through that prism,” he said.
In a Roper poll from June 1960, 35 percent of respondents said either that it might be better not to have a Catholic president, or that they would be against it. Sen. John F. Kennedy addressed the subject of religion in a September 1960 speech and was elected president two months later.
According to Campbell, “The question facing Mitt Romney is, will he be the Mormons’ Al Smith–who was the first Catholic ever to run for president in 1928, and went down in flames–or will he be the Mormons’ John F. Kennedy?”
