God is my running mate: According to National Journal’s PollTrack, a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll shows that both parties have work to do to secure the “religious vote,” whatever that is. Apparently a majority of Americans allow their superstitious reliance on an omnipotent imaginary friend to cloud their political affiliations.
And if your imaginary friend’s name is Allah, you can forget becoming the most powerful public servant on the planet.
Majorities of both Democratic (56 percent) and Republican (61 percent) respondents said they couldn’t vote for a Muslim for president, while a slight plurality (45 percent) of independents said they could.
The Mormon religion fared a bit better in the poll: A slim 51 percent majority said they could support a Mormon for president. That’s good news to Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R), who is considering a presidential run; 61 percent of Republicans said they could vote for a Mormon. Democrats were evenly split, with 43 percent saying they could and 42 percent saying they couldn’t.
Sixty-six percent of respondents indicated they’d have no problem voting for an evangelical Christian, including 53 percent of Democrats, 69 percent of independents and 81 percent of Republicans. Of course, we’ve already had an evangelical Christian president in Jimmy Carter.
However, respondents were most receptive to voting for Jewish or Catholic candidates for president. Overall, 76 percent said they could support a Jewish candidate, but along party lines support was strongest among GOP respondents at 83 percent compared with 72 percent of Democrats. (Good news for Joe Lieberman — a Jewish senator from Connecticut — but bad news for the Democratic Party, unless he runs as an independent, then it’s bad news for everybody.)
Eighty-three percent of respondents said they could vote for a Catholic candidate, the highest of the five religions tested in the poll. But Catholicism already passed the test when John F. Kennedy was elected in 1960. Another Catholic senator from Massachusetts — John Kerry (D) — failed most recently in his 2004 attempt, but we all know that wasn’t because of his religion. It was because of his wife. And his flip-flop on the Iraq War. And his inept campaigning. Etc.
Maybe Kerry should consider converting to Judaism ….
Okay, enough now. Name one Islamic person who is a natural born American who has a high profile as a peacemaker who could run for President. What are you doing with this article…enjoying being offbeat. If you write an essay like this…have an answer for it or pick another topic. It is very petulant.
I sincerely apologize for accusing Pensito Review of selecting a dumb subject, “the lack of Presidential opportunities for Islamics.” I see that the LA Times wrote a similar article on Sunday. While I cannot explain why a newspaper would pay money to have this poll done…I will fight for their right to commit dumb polling.
Hey Jack, sorry to be vague in my post, but I think the point I was trying to make was that Americans make political choices based on religion, which is just plain dumb. BTW, it wasn’t petulant, it was ironic and satirical. “Petulant” means irritable and bitchy. But thanks for the apology; it’s accepted!
Good satire.