How has the personal faith of candidates been a factor so far in the 2008 presidential campaign?
So far, the 2008 campaign appears to be a continuation of the trend of the last 30 years. Candidates in both parties have talked a good bit about their faith. On balance, these discussions appear to have helped most of the candidates. Survey evidence offers some hints as to why this may be the case. A large number of Americans tell pollsters that they prefer a president of strong personal faith. In fact, a summer 2007 poll by the Forum and the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found that almost seven-in-ten Americans agreed with the statement, “It’s important to me that a president have strong religious beliefs.” The same poll found an interesting relationship between respondents’ perception of candidates’ religiosity and their favorable views of the candidates. Basically, the more a candidate was perceived to be “religious,” the higher the candidate’s favorability ratings. These patterns suggest that personal faith can be a valuable asset for presidential candidates. Howe
