Which of the following would have the easiest time getting elected POTUS?

[TDAS04]

Vote.

[Bootes Void]

I'd say practitioner of Wicca, Muslim and the Atheist as dead last in that order.

[VBM]

The atheist. A lot of religious people in this country aren’t actually that religious, and the Republicans already have a lock on the really religious ones anyways

[Big Abraham]

I mean, it's impossible to answer this question in a vacuum because religion isn't most people's (even Republicans') number one priority. Character, record, policy, as well as other factors, are always going to play into it more.

But in general, here's what polling shows (taking into account the volatility of these kinds of polls depending on how it's worded, margin of error, sampling size etc.)

As of 2016, 60% of the country would vote for a "generally well-qualified" atheist. 66% of the country would vote for a generally well-qualified Moslem.

I wasn't able to find any polling on those willing to vote for a well-qualified pagan, but since pagans comprise such an incredibly tiny percentage of the U.S. population (and even smaller among politicians who are potential presidential candidates), I don't think it matters all that much anyway.

[Catholics vs. Convicts]

The atheist. A lot of religious people in this country aren’t actually that religious, and the Republicans already have a lock on the really religious ones anyways

Clearly this. trump could say "yeah I don't actually believe in any of that religious crap" tomorrow, and his odds of being elected wouldn't change one bit.

Then a Muslim. Would have to overcome a lot of prejudice, but playing off of a lot of similar Abrahamic themes, could conceivably make it work.

No wiccan could ever be elected. Automatic disqualifier.

[Alben Barkley]

The atheist. A lot of religious people in this country aren’t actually that religious, and the Republicans already have a lock on the really religious ones anyways

Clearly this. trump could say "yeah I don't actually believe in any of that religious crap" tomorrow, and his odds of being elected wouldn't change one bit.

Then a Muslim. Would have to overcome a lot of prejudice, but playing off of a lot of similar Abrahamic themes, could conceivably make it work.

No wiccan could ever be elected. Automatic disqualifier.

Trump’s chances would be hurt a bit, but I don’t think many but the most rabid cultists are actually under the delusion he is really religious anyway, so it probably wouldn’t hurt too bad.

[Fight for Trump]

I would enthusiastically vote for John Dule. He'd better give us tax cuts, though.

[Progressive Pessimist]

I look at it like this: if they're Republicans, all of them can potentially win. If they're Democrats, they'll all lose.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

I look at it like this: if they're Republicans, all of them can potentially win. If they're Democrats, they'll all lose.

Came to say exactly this.

[brucejoel99]

Well, a lot of people on the right may stupidly think that we already had our 1st Muslim President from 2009-2017, but at least it's pretty obvious that the 45th was at least agnostic at a minimum - if not an outright atheist - behind closed doors.

In any event, I'd expect to see an inoffensive agnostic - if not an openly atheist - President get elected in my lifetime, & I wonder if a potential Muslim candidate's ethnic background being from, say, Bosnia would positively affect their chances?

[Shaula🏳️‍⚧️]

Atheist. I think most people know Trump isn't really religious anyway, and religion is on the decline. It's not the 2000s anymore

[BG-NY]

Neither Obama nor Trump believes in God.

[Thank you for being a friend...]

The one that doesn't believe in a God.  That person could win the blue states and pick off maybe a few of the swing ones - but they better go out of their way to say how much they respect Christian teachings, and even appear at Christian churches in the South as often as possible to say that atheist doesn't mean "God hater", it just means you don't believe in deities.

The Muslim would be arguably the hardest.  Even the Wicca could pass that off as a "quirk" or something, but full on Islam would be very hard... sad to say because I believe that a Muslim could be President and that the religious faith of the person is not important.

The Wicca thing is too far out, even though I used to know a girl in the high school cafeteria I think who practiced it and she was nice.  I think she'd be a great person to walk around Salem with, but I'm not sure of her political views.

[VBM]

Neither Obama nor Trump believes in God.

I hope so

[BG-NY]

Neither Obama nor Trump believes in God.

I hope so

I mean I'm an atheist so I'm fine with it. Bill Clinton might not either. Biden and W Bush both seem personally religious. Prior to Bill Clinton hard to tell since everybody was religious.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Ro Khanna is ready for higher office, he can run for Gov in 2026 and become Prez but so many others are ready to do that

[beesley]

People are more easily manipulated/changeable than has often been made out, so yes, a qualified candidate of any of those descriptions could conceivably have a legitimising effect. But as usual polarisation and the loudest voices being against would obfuscate such an effect.

[Alben Barkley]

Neither Obama nor Trump believes in God.

I hope so

I mean I'm an atheist so I'm fine with it. Bill Clinton might not either. Biden and W Bush both seem personally religious. Prior to Bill Clinton hard to tell since everybody was religious.

I mean Thomas Jefferson was a deist (not quite an atheist but close, especially for the day) who ridiculed much of the Bible and literally cut it up into pieces to get rid of what he saw as supernatural nonsense. And Abraham Lincoln never belonged to any church, and was described by those who knew him as lacking in faith; Mary Todd even said after he died that he could not be called a Christian.

But it might have actually mattered less back then. This country has fluctuated significantly in religiosity over time. When it was founded a lot of people actually were not very religious at all; various revivals and “Great Awakenings” would change that over time, though now we are once again in a period of religious decline.