"When we say Romney is a Christian and Mormons say they are Christian," Southern evangelical respondents "become very defensive," Benson said. Simply asking people whether they would vote for a Mormon for president is less accurate, he said, because "people don't want to be labeled bigots."

The poll tried to sort out the bias against various groups among potential voters. "Bias against evangelicals is very low. Bias against women is relatively high. Bias against blacks is not as high as it is against women. The bias against atheists is really high, and bias against Mormons is significantly higher than against women and blacks," he said.

"Twenty percent of the population is more biased against Mormons than against women and blacks."

"With evangelicals, (bias against Mormons) rivals bias against atheists. It's right up there," Benson said.

LDS Church officials declined to comment on the report Wednesday.

The findings reinforce at least one survey released earlier this year that showed Americans would be less likely to vote for a Mormon than a black or a woman.

Benson said he was surprised at how dramatic the intensity of bias was when comparing evangelicals with non-evangelicals. "They don't even want to put Mormons in that Christian club. They feel threatened whenever you try to elevate or mainstream the status of Mormons at all."

Romney's best chance of dispelling anti-Mormon bias would be by focusing on "faith, family, values, honesty, service, liberty and individual responsibility," Benson said. "It also helps to address the misconception that Salt Lake City would be directing the decisions of the White House."

He said it would be helpful "just to tell people the official name of the church and that 'Mormon' is a nickname given to the church by others."

Geer said his research team, which included Benson and Jennifer Merolla, an assistant professor of politics at Claremont Graduate University, only received the research data on Friday — two days before Romney's campaign announced he would give his faith speech on Thursday. Benson said the team is still analyzing the data.

Romney's pollster contacted Geer, and he anticipated speaking with them today, he said, adding he has a close friend who is one of Romney's advisers. "They have not had any say in the data. We've been willing to share it because this is an issue of religious tolerance above any particular candidate.

"What's relevant is there is this bias out there, supposedly in a religiously tolerant society. Let's have a discussion and hopefully that will decline."

---

E-mail: carrie@desnews.com