With the start of the presidential primary season nearing, and the Republican presidential hopefuls intensifying their efforts to gain traction, a new survey by the Barna Group shows how the various faith communities of the United States are responding to those campaign efforts.

Name Recognition and Favorability

One of the most basic indicators of the “stickiness” of a campaign is the candidate’s name recognition. Although it is still very early in the election cycle, past elections have underscored the advantage of not having to spend time and money to simply get on people’s radar. That is particularly true when a leader from the opposing party is an incumbent president.

For instance, President Obama has nearly universal name recognition (98%). His favorability rating – those who hold a favorable view of him compared to those who possess an unfavorable view – currently stands at 52% favorable and 47% unfavorable. His vulnerability as a candidate for re-election is indicated by the fact that only 28% have a “very favorable” impression of him, with the other 24% holding a “somewhat favorable” view. But when he seeks re-election he will have a massive war chest and the numerous perks that come from being an incumbent.

Among the possible Republican contenders, the highest levels of name recognition are held by Sarah Palin (97%), Newt Gingrich (86%), Mike Huckabee (81%), and Mitt Romney (80%). Lower levels were awarded to Ron Paul (68%) and Rick Santorum (37%).

The most positive favorability ratio was generated by former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, with 44% of adults holding a favorable view and 38% a negative view of him. In comparison, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney had a 40% favorable and 39% unfavorable split. More negatively skewed were the ratings for former Congressman Gingrich (32% favorable, 55% unfavorable) and former Alaska Governor and 2008 Vice Presidential candidate Palin (36% favorable, 61% unfavorable). Congressman Paul had a 31% favorable and 37% unfavorable rating.

However, given that each of these candidates must first win the Republican Party’s nomination before having the opportunity to battle the incumbent president, an evaluation of the ratings provided by registered Republicans is important to consider.

Among Republicans, the numbers look quite different – and surprisingly similar across the candidates. Mr. Gingrich generated a 62%-32% positive to negative rating among members of his party. Mr. Huckabee was somewhat more favorable at 68% versus 23%. The positive to negative ratio for Mrs. Palin was 69% to 30%. Dr. Paul, the least well-known of the five major Republican contenders even among Republican voters, had a 52% to 27% ratio. Mr. Romney was nearly identical to Mr. Huckabee’s numbers, at 69% favorable and 22% unfavorable.

Favorability within Faith Communities

In the most recent presidential elections, the faith communities of America have played a major role in electing presidents and other important public figures. Breaking down the survey data by more than a dozen religious segments regularly tracked by The Barna Group, the numbers take on yet a different contour.

For instance, among evangelical Christians – the 7% of the population who are most concerned about moral issues (among other considerations) and are most involved in religious activity – the favorites are clearly Mr. Huckabee (88% favorable, 11% unfavorable) and Mrs. Palin (79% favorable, 21% unfavorable). There is less warmth directed towards Mr. Gingrich (57% – 37%), Mr. Romney (56% – 29%) and Mr. Paul (51% – 26%). However, all five of those individuals are clearly favored by evangelicals more so than Mr. Obama (6% favorable, 94% unfavorable).

A larger religious segment – and a pivotal group in the last three elections and a group that is considerably less conservative than its evangelical subset – are born again Christians. Currently, the best favorability numbers from this group have been earned by Mr. Huckabee (58% favorable, 27% unfavorable) and Mr. Romney (49% – 33%). Mrs. Palin is somewhat less popular among born again adults (53% – 45%), while Mr. Gingrich struggles with this group (43% – 47%). Dr. Paul is generally viewed favorably by born agains, but is less well-known among them (39% – 31%).

Although about four out of every five Americans consider themselves to be Christian, the one out of five who do not represents more than 40 million adults. The two primary segments tracked by the Barna Group in that regard are those who are religious Skeptics (e.g., atheists and agnostics) and people who align with a faith group that is not Christian. Each of those groups constitutes about 10% of the national adult population.

Those who are from non-Christian faith communities generally like President Obama. His favorability rating among them is 61% positive, 38% negative. In contrast, not a single Republican potential candidate has a favorability rating that is more positive than negative among this faith audience: Gingrich (20% – 67%), Huckabee (30% – 59%), Palin (17% – 80%), Paul (31% – 53%), Romney (35% – 54%).

© Barna Group 2011