Poll: Americans prefer Christian president

SALT LAKE CITY, Dec. 22 (UPI) -- A majority of Americans want the president of the United States to believe in Christianity and most are accepting of a Mormon leader, a national poll found.

A Salt Lake Tribune poll found 86 percent of likely voters say it's "very important" or "somewhat important" for a presidential candidate to believe in God. Seventy percent said they consider the candidate's faith when determining support, the newspaper reported Wednesday.

Eighty-four percent of Republican respondents and 55 percent of Democrats said a candidate's faith is "very important."

"Clearly, religion is much more important to Republicans," said Brad Coker Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, which conducted the survey for the newspaper.

The poll found 67 percent of Americans want the president to be Christian and 52 percent said they consider Mormons to be Christian. Twenty-two percent of those polled said they don't think Mormons are Christians and 26 percent are unsure.

"I do believe they are moral people, but again there is a difference between being moral and being saved," Linda Dameron, an evangelical Republican in Independence, Mo., told the Tribune.