Religious? Good (maybe)

WASHINGTON -- Americans still believe it's important for a president to have strong religious beliefs, a new study by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life shows.

So who have those same Americans made into the front-runners in the 2008 presidential race? Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republican Rudy Giuliani -- the very candidates they see as less religious than the others, according to the study.

And, it shows, the candidate viewed as the most religious -- Republican Mitt Romney -- is handicapped by his religion.

"Romney, more than any other candidate, is viewed as highly religious," the Pew study said. "Yet the political benefit he stands to gain from being perceived as very religious is limited by the reservations that some Americans have about voting for a Mormon."

NO CLEAR-CUT BENEFIT

The findings are the latest to acknowledge the challenge faced by Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, as he tries to become the nation's first Mormon president.

A quarter of respondents said they would be less likely to vote for a Mormon presidential candidate.

"So far, religion is not proving to be a clear-cut positive in the 2008 presidential campaign," the study concluded.

COULD BE WORSE

Mormons were viewed more favorably than two other categories of people, however. Forty-five percent of respondents said they would be less likely to vote for a Muslim candidate, and 61 percent said they would be less likely to back a candidate who doesn't believe in God.

ABOUT THE STUDY

The Pew study is based on interviews with 3,002 people questioned Aug. 1-18 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.