I love Pew. But the problem with religious academics doing political polls and non-religious reporters covering them is that the headlines can get skewed and political implications muddled. The headlines from yesterday\u2019s Pew poll on religion and politics should have all read: \u201cObama and Romney Both Face Serious Faith Problems,\u201d with the subheading: \u201cElection could hinge on which candidates fixes them.\u201d<\/p>\n
To be fair, a lot of the headlines did focus on the fact that less than half of Americans know that President Obama is a Christian. But the stories didn\u2019t provide much context for what that means or how it happened. It\u2019s clearly not good. Along with most not knowing Obama is Christian, even more troubling is that only 45 percent of voters are comfortable with Obama\u2019s religion.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a key point in the poll that didn\u2019t get much attention: 82 percent of those who know Obama is Christian say they are comfortable with his religion. So voters are basically twice as comfortable with Obama\u2019s faith when they know what it is. This is why faith outreach is so important (but more on that later).<\/p>\n
Why does the fact that most voters are not comfortable with Obama\u2019s religion matter? More than two-thirds of voters (and seven-in-10 women voters) say they want a president with strong religious beliefs. As one might imagine, these numbers are even higher with religious populations. Eight-in-10 Protestants and three-in-four Catholic voters want a president with strong religious beliefs. And let\u2019s be honest, they aren\u2019t talking about wanting Obama to have strong Muslim beliefs (so the fact that 17 percent of voters think he\u2019s Muslim doesn\u2019t add to the plus column)!<\/p>\n