Rasmussen Poll: 10% Would Base Vote on Religion

A small number of voters, 10 percent would vote for a political candidate solely based on the candidate’s religion, a Rasmussen Reports poll finds.

The poll found that about 10 percent of likely voters would vote against a candidate because of their faith, while 80 percent would not base their vote on the religious preferences of a candidate. The rest of the respondents were undecided.

Democrats (85 percent) and voters not affiliated with either major party (81 percent) are more willing to ignore the faith of a candidate while Republicans (73 percent) are more likely to vote solely on the basis of candidate’s faith.

Almost 1 in 5 Evangelical Christians (18 percent) and 13 percent of other Protestants said they would base their vote solely on the faith of a candidate. Just 6 percent of Catholics and 5 percent of voters of other faiths agree.

Eighty percent of Evangelical Christians and 61 percent of other Protestants rate a political candidate’s religious faith as at least somewhat important in terms of how they will vote. For 64 percent of Catholics and 61 percent of those of other faiths, a candidate’s religion is not very important in determining their vote.

Among all voters, 51 percent say a candidate’s faith is at least somewhat important to their vote, with 19 percent who rate it very important. But nearly as many 48 percent feel a candidate’s religion is not important to determining how they will vote, including 22 percent who say it not at all important.