Rasmussen: Voters Don't Care for Mormons, Really Don't Like Muslims and Atheists

Rasmussen is busy polling for 2008 and has done some research on whether people would actually vote for outogoing Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who happens to be a Latter-Day Saint:

Forty-three percent (43%) of American voters say they would never even consider voting for a Mormon Presidential candidate. Only 38% say they would consider casting such a vote while 19% are not sure. Half (53%) of all Evangelical Christians say that they would not consider voting for a Mormon candidate. . . . Currently, just 19% of Likely Voters are able to identify Romney as the Mormon candidate from a list of six potential Presidential candidates.

What? You can't tell just by looking? Rasmussen didn't ask whether voters' opinions would be different if the Mormon candidate in question were Jon Heder or one of the Osmonds.

The poll also shows that Americans are much more tolerant of Mormons than of Muslims and non-believers:

Sixty-one percent (61%) of Likely Voters say they would never consider voting for a Muslim Presidential candidate. Sixty percent (60%) say the same about an atheist.

It's hard for me to believe that American voters are so reluctant to elect a Mormon, Muslim, or Atheist to our highest office. Historically, diversity has been a hallmark of the American Presidency. (Remember, Kennedy wasn't Protestant and Buchanan wasn't married.)