POLL: Is Religion Really an Issue for Romney?

For as much talk as there is about a candidate’s position on the issues, there are other important factors that will determine whether or not he or she is electable. And those are gender, race and religion.

They have been part of the discussion since at least 1960, though they undoubtedly played a role long before then. Back in 1960, many voters were concerned that a Catholic candidate, John F. Kennedy, would take his orders from the Pope rather than the electorate. Kennedy was able to overcome those doubts and win over Richard Nixon.

In the last presidential election, race and gender played a key role in the respective candidacies of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Obama’s supporters worried about a possible “Bradley Effect," that made pre-election polling numbers difficult to trust. The phenomenon gets its name from Tom Bradley, who in 1982, was well ahead in polls prior to Election Day in the race for governor of California. Voters told pollsters that they planned on voting for a black candidate—in this case, Bradley—because they would not vote for a minority. But when it came time to actually do so, they were overcome by their own prejudices.

In 2008, Clinton’s supporters believed the media coverage she received was different because of her gender and ultimately hurt her chances to defeat Obama.

Now in 2012, Mitt Romney could be facing a similar problem. Romney said he is a practicing Mormon, which has been portrayed—fairly or not—as a religion that promotes polygamy, a ban on “vices” such as caffeine and contains a creation story that is very different from that of the Judeo-Christian belief system.

Few voters will actually tell a pollster that they will not vote for someone because of gender, race or religion. Yet history has shown that these are primary considerations. So, we ask the voters of South Carolina to tell us anonymously—Is Mitt Romney’s religion a factor in whether or not you’ll vote for him?