Poll: Clinton, Giuliani least religious

[rodeodance]

Source: ap




Poll: Clinton, Giuliani least religious

By ALAN FRAM, Associated Press Writer 29 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - People view Hillary Rodham Clinton and Rudy Giuliani as the least religious of the major presidential candidates, according to a poll released Thursday. Mitt Romney was seen as most religious, but his Mormonism may hurt him with voters.


Seven in 10 in the nonpartisan Pew Research Center poll said they believe it is important for a president to have strong religious beliefs, including broad majorities of both parties. Most also see each major presidential hopeful as at least somewhat religious — important because people who view a candidate that way are likelier to have a favorable opinion of them.

Of those expressing an opinion on the candidates' beliefs, 46 percent said they consider Romney, a Republican contender, to be very religious, far more than any other candidate. Yet a quarter of all Republicans — including 36 percent of white evangelical Protestants — said they would be less likely to vote for a Mormon.
........"

Giuliani, the former New York mayor, was considered very religious by 14 percent, while 16 percent said the same of Clinton, the Democratic New York senator.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070906/ap_on_el_pr/candidates_religion_poll;_ylt=ArzjHJxobDlTBhaVvJpn4tas0NUE

[rodeodance]

1. umm... and both are leading in the polls. Tells me a lot.

John C. Green, senior fellow at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, said the poll showed a candidate's religion is "not always the most important factor, but one important factor" for voters.

The survey was conducted by the Pew religion forum and the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. It involved telephone interviews with 3,002 randomly chosen adults conducted from August 1 to 18, and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

___

On the Net:

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press: http://www.people-press.org

Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life: http://www.pewforum.org

[TwilightGardener]

2. I was just going to say that--the less religious, the more appeal.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

3. She's totally religious!

Hillary's Prayer: Hillary Clinton's Religion and Politics

News: For 15 years, Hillary Clinton has been part of a secretive religious group that seeks to bring Jesus back to Capitol Hill. Is she triangulating—or living her faith?

By Kathryn Joyce and Jeff Sharlet
September 1, 2007


It was an elegant example of the Clinton style, a rhetorical maneuver subtle, bold, and banal all at once. During a Democratic candidate forum in June, hosted by the liberal evangelical group Sojourners, Hillary Clinton fielded a softball query about Bill's infidelity: How had her faith gotten her through the Lewinsky scandal?

After a glancing shot at Republican "pharisees," Clinton explained that, of course, her "very serious" grounding in faith had helped her weather the affair. But she had also relied on the "extended faith family" that came to her aid, "people whom I knew who were literally praying for me in prayer chains, who were prayer warriors for me."

Such references to spiritual warfare—prayer as battle against Satan, evil, and sin—might seem like heavy evangelical rhetoric for the senator from New York, but they went over well with the Sojourners audience, as did her call to "inject faith into policy." It was language that recalled Clinton's Jesus moment a year earlier, when she'd summoned the Bible to decry a Republican anti-immigrant initiative that she said would "criminalize the good Samaritan...and even Jesus himself." Liberal Christians crowed ("Hillary Clinton Shows the Way Democrats Can Use the Bible," declared a blogger at TPMCafe) while conservative pundits cried foul, accusing Clinton of scoring points with a faith not really her own.

In fact, Clinton's God talk is more complicated—and more deeply rooted—than either fans or foes would have it, a revelation not just of her determination to out-Jesus the gop, but of the powerful religious strand in her own politics. Over the past year, we've interviewed dozens of Clinton's friends, mentors, and pastors about her faith, her politics, and how each shapes the other. And while media reports tend to characterize Clinton's subtle recalibration of tone and style as part of the Democrats' broader move to recapture the terrain of "moral values," those who know her say there's far more to it than that.


more

[rurallib]

5. And she talks about it on the stump - or used to

Remember that religious forum that Fux(I think) held for her, Obama and Edwards?

[LibDemAlways]

4. The perception that Clinton isn't religious must come from

the constant GOP bashing of the evil Clintons. Hillary considers herself religious and wrote about her Methodist faith in her autobiography.

[yellowdogintexas]

10. it is because she is pro choice of course.

you can't be religious if you are pro choice. :sarcasm:

[sinkingfeeling]

6. Guess Hillary just got my vote!

[Johnny Noshoes]

9. That's nice..

I'd love to see a Presidential campaign once in my lifetime where a straight forward progressive atheist is the front runner and has a real shot at the White House - JUST ONCE.

[sarcasmo]

7. A new game show for cable.

What will Rudy's wife's name be if he becomes President.

[TexasBushwhacker]

8. Just goes to show ....

7 in 10 people can have their head up their butt. Hilary is very religious, she just isn't a fundamentalist.

Funny, here's a link to the Pew Survey and all the results:

http://pewforum.org/surveys/campaign08/

10% see Mitt Romney as not at all religious? :wtf: