The council district whose residents were least likely to support the skybridge is District 4 — the downtown district where the bridge would be located. Only 44 percent of District 4 residents said they supported the skybridge, compared with 36 percent who opposed it.

The split over the skybridge question could figure in the city's coming mayoral election. Of the four front-runner candidates, only one has expressed doubt over the bridge. Ralph Becker, a professional urban planner, said at an April candidate debate, "Skybridges can work in very limited circumstances. I haven't been convinced by everything I've seen" that the City Creek bridge is needed.

Candidates Dave Buhler, Keith Christensen and Jenny Wilson have all said they support building the bridge.

Like the May poll, the newest survey shows a religious divide over the skybridge plans. Of respondents who identified themselves as LDS — whether active or not — 83 percent supported the bridge, and only 9 percent opposed it.

Far fewer people who identified themselves as belonging to other denominations liked the skybridge idea. The poll found that 38 percent of Catholics and 41 percent of Protestants said they either "probably" or "definitely" favored the bridge. But even among those groups, support was higher than opposition: 35 percent of Catholics and 26 percent of Protestants opposed the bridge.

Because of the LDS church's ownership of the project and its role as the developer, the skybridge has been viewed by some as a question of religious loyalties. After a Deseret Morning News article reported that Anderson was considering selling air rights to block the skybridge, dozens of e-mails to the newspaper accused Anderson of anti-Mormon obstructionism.

While the May survey specifically mentioned the LDS Church as the developer in the wording of the question, the new poll simply referred to "developers." Still, it is likely that many — if not most — of the respondents were aware of the church's role in City Creek Center because the project has been covered extensively in the media.

Political persuasion similarly affected the respondents' reactions to the bridge. Those who called themselves "very conservative" supported the skybridge at 85 percent, and 71 percent of those residents "definitely" favored it. Among residents residents who said they were "very liberal," 57 percent said they opposed the skybridge idea, while 24 percent favored it.

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E-mail: dsmeath@desnews.com