Posted on 07/16/2006 11:00:52 AM PDT by Liz
WASHINGTON -- Almost 60 percent of likely voters surveyed say it's important for a president to believe in God and be deeply religious while also having the backing of most Americans on how he is managing the economy and foreign policy.
A new O'Leary Report/Zogby International Values Poll (as of January 2004) that looked at the political and ideological divisions in the nation showed significant support for personal religious involvement by the country's top leader.
Fifty-nine percent of those polled said having a president who is religious is more important to them than having one who is not religious, while 30 percent said the opposite.
In the poll's so-called "red states," which were won by President Bush in 2000, the percentage is higher -- 67 percent -- who favor having a religious president who also is considered to have done a good job managing foreign policy and the economy. In those states -- covering the South, Southwest and mountain West -- 23 percent favored a president who is not religious but had success on policy issues.
In the "blue states," won by former Vice President Al Gore, the percentage in favor of a religious president was lower -- 51 percent. In those states -- the Northeast, the mid-Atlantic, the Great Lakes and the far West -- 36 percent favored a president who was successful on policy matters but not necessarily deeply religious.
"It is ultimately very important for a presidential candidate to identify with a supreme being and with what are perceived to be family and church values," said pollster John Zogby, whose Zogby International organization is based in Utica, N.Y.
He said that view is shaped by Americans' conservative or liberal tendencies, with born-again Christians viewing religion in absolute terms and mainline Protestants and liberal Catholics having a more live-and-let-live philosophy.
Brad O'Leary, a Republican strategist and pollster who commissioned the poll, said Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean is responding to the sentiment expressed in the poll that favors religious presidents. "I think you have Dean right now looking at his polling and seeing that his persona among the American public is not as a religious or deeply religious person," said O'Leary, publisher of "The O'Leary Report" newsletter. "So all of a sudden, in the midst of this campaign in the last few days, he starts talking about his religion."
An earlier poll also suggested an American comfort with religious rhetoric from political leaders. A July 2003 poll by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found that almost twice as many respondents thought there were too few references to prayer and religious faith by politicians than too much.
Forty-one percent said there was too little reference compared to 21 percent who thought there was more than enough.
But as interest in religion and the presidency continues, some people are voicing concern about it going too far. Officials of the Anti-Defamation League, worried about the increasing focus on faith in the presidential campaign, sent a letter to Bush and the nine candidates seeking the Democratic Party nomination. "Candidates should feel comfortable explaining their religious convictions to voters," said Barbara B.Balser and Abraham H. Foxman, national chair and national director, respectively, of the Jewish organization. "However, we feel strongly that appealing to voters on the basis of religion is contrary to the American ideal and can be inherently divisive, wrongly suggesting that a candidate's religious beliefs should be a litmus test for public office."
The Zogby poll highlighted other views of likely voters regarding religious and moral issues.
For example, 62 percent of respondents agreed that "by removing prayer in school, by removing the words `under God' from the Pledge of Allegiance, and fighting the display of the Ten Commandments or a nativity scene, we have eliminated our moral compass in daily decision-making." Thirty-four percent of likely voters polled disagreed with that idea.
"There's a fundamental agreement on the importance of God in the Pledge of Allegiance," said Zogby. "I don't think you're going to see any candidate stand up and say `Take God out of the pledge' or that this nation doesn't identify with the Ten Commandments. That's sort of motherhood and apple pie."
Other findings by the pollsters include:
-- 34 percent of likely voters said federal and state governments should recognize civil unions between people of the same sex who seek a state license granting them the legal benefits of marriage.
-- 62 percent said governments only should recognize marriage between a man and a woman.
-- 52 percent said abortion destroys a human life and is manslaughter.
-- 36 percent said abortion doesn't destroy a life and is not manslaughter.
Zogby Int interviewed 1,200 likely voters nationwide by telephone Dec. 15-17. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
......62 percent of respondents agreed that "by removing prayer in school, by removing the words `under God' from the Pledge of Allegiance, and fighting the display of the Ten Commandments or a nativity scene, we have eliminated our moral compass in daily decision-making".......
Hillary, get thee to a nunnery
LOL! Read the polls and you'll be confused.
Is this gonna be printed in the NYTs? Doubt it.
Interesting.
Remember, Bill used to do that on a regular basis. It's an old drill for her and it seemed to work.
OK, what about Mitt Romney?
FReeper A. Pole put it very well on another thread:
"It is not possible to separate religion from the state for a simple reason: every state is always based on religion. Remove/separate the religion and the state will collapse after some delay.
Even the Soviet state had to use religious aspects of Marxist ideology to sustain its existence. And in the moment of ultimate peril (WWII) Soviet leaders had to reopen churches.
The religious element is present in official legal way in the cornerstone of American republic - the concept of individual rights. These rights are explicitly derived from God. If you remove God and rights the Republic will have not way to continue."
I just want one who stays out of my wallet, my firearms collection, ....my property in general. And one who doesn't toss U.S. taxpayer dollars all over the third world. ....and one who makes border security a top priority. ....and one who relentlessly pursues the destruction of our Islamist enemies.
Joe Liberman? Nope, they are already throwing him under the bus.
Jimmy Carter? Too old and too incompetent.
Harry Reid? He already proved his supposedly devout Mormonism takes a back seat to his Liberalism.
Hillary Clinton? The makeover just isn't credible and the more she tries to make herself over, the more the dominant Godless wing of her party will be offended.
Al Gore? Good Baptist boy with Tipper for window dressing. Probably the front runner if they decide religion really matters. But credibility is a big problem here too. My guess is they will try to find a fake Catholic. Maybe a Hispanic too.
What is the religious image of Bill Richardson?
I guess that rules out the entire Democratic party.
I think its more laughable when they start mangling Bible verses.
No, we have to have someone who not only has a grasp of national and world events and one who can lead in both areas, but one who does not forget the Creator of all things and makes decisions based on a sound faith and stable family life (and no I don't mean me!). I know that doesn't necessarily narrow the pack of contenders but there is one man who I think fills the bill nicely and that is Mike Pence.
Here is a man who exercises sound judgement, can lead by example, and one who has not forgotten Who has gotten him to where he is now. Do I think America is ready for him? I don't really know, but I know we don't need the likes of McCain, Gulliani or some of the others who are going to make a run for the White House.
Oh Nooo!!
That means Hillary. I used to see her with Bubba every Sunday as he carried his Bible down the steps from church.
Wonder what a poll taken today would reveal?
No sweat---the issues he needs to address are all laid out.
Yeah, carrying the Bible sure fooled a lot of people. The thing is she has to not only READ the Bible but adhere to its message.
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