Poll: Many Americans don't know, don't care about candidates' religion

When asked about presidential candidates' religion, many Americans don't know — and don't care.

Some four in 10 Americans were not able to correctly identify presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney as a Mormon, according to a Pew survey released Thursday. But of those aware of Romney's religion, 81 percent say that they are either "comfortable" with it or that his religion doesn't matter to them.

Perhaps even more strikingly, fewer than half of American voters — 49 percent — correctly identify President Obama as a Christian. That's actually up from 38 percent two years ago.

Almost two in 10 registered voters believe the president is Muslim, while more than three in 10 say they do not know the president's religion.

Among self-identified Republicans, 30 percent believe the president is a Muslim, double the number of those who identified the president's faith incorrectly in 2008. That figure is double what it was in 2008.

The uncertainty surrounding the president's beliefs could be an electoral liability in 2012. Only 45 percent of voters say they are "comfortable" with the president's faith.

But more likely is that voters simply aren't concerned with their candidate's religious faith in a year dominated by economic issues.

“Republicans and white evangelicals overwhelmingly back Romney irrespective of their views of his faith, and Democrats and seculars overwhelmingly oppose him regardless of their impression,” the report said.

And those most informed about each candidate's religious faith are those most likely to be comfortable with their religious preferences.

The margin of error of the survey is plus or minus 2.1 percentage points.

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