A recent Pew poll surveyed voters’ attitudes about a range of qualities of people and what would make them more likely to vote for, less likely and indifferent. It turns out that for voters, being an atheist is the least desirable quality in a candidate for elected office, with 53% saying that they were less likely to vote for an atheist, while 41% said it would not matter and just 5% saying it would make them more likely.

A large majority of Protestants (71%) – including 82% of white evangelical Protestants – say they would be less likely to support a candidate who does not believe in God. Catholics would view an absence of belief in God less negatively (48% less likely), while only about a quarter (24%) of the religiously unaffiliated say they would be less likely to favor a candidate who does not believe in God.

That 24% may be a good proxy figure to pin down what the unaffiliated group believes, suggesting that that fraction are religious believers of some sort.

Having served in the military seems to be the most appealing for voters.

Atheists ranked even below marijuana users. These results seems bad for us. But on the bright side, this is an improvement from 2007 when 63% said they were less likely to vote for an atheist and 32% said it would not matter.