Romney's yearlong run for the GOP nomination, including his "Faith in America" speech last December, apparently didn't change the perception among voters.

But not everyone believes there's still significant concern about a Mormon in the White House.

Rodney Stark, a Baylor University social science professor, said Romney's run didn't add to the unfavorable view of Mormons.

"It might have done some good. He didn't have any horns, and he gave up pretty gracefully," Stark said.

Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission in Nashville, said Romney handled the questions about his religion effectively in his "Faith in America" speech.

That speech, delivered at the George H.W. Bush Library in Texas, was intended to reassure evangelicals who don't consider Mormons to be fellow Christians as well as reaffirming the role of faith in American life.

Land said he rarely hears about the Mormon issue. "I haven't heard much about that since the speech," he said. But he acknowledged a lot of evangelicals remained "suspicious of his receptiveness in adopting positions important to them."

Romney didn't mention religion when he withdrew Thursday or in an e-mail sent out Friday thanking supporters. His campaign spokesman said religion wasn't a factor in his decision to quit the race.

Mormons were willing to weather frequent public attacks on their beliefs and culture while Romney was in the race. In Utah, nine out of 10 Republicans voted for him in Tuesday's primary. But now that he's out, whom will they support?

"I would think historically they will stay about as Republican as they always have," Stark said.

Unless that Republican's name is Mike Huckabee.

"Huckabee is going nowhere. On top of that, he's no friend to Mormons. He's no friend to anybody for that matter," Stark said.

Because Mormons often identify with social conservatives, they might ordinarily be inclined to go for another social conservative like the former Arkansas governor. But not this year.

While campaigning in Iowa, Huckabee, a former Baptist preacher, asked a magazine reporter: "Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?"

Because Huckabee was seen as at least "buying in to some of the canards about Mormons," Mauss said, LDS Church members became suspicious that he might be in tune with protestant evangelicals who held anti-Mormon seminars in their churches.

"I think Mormons have been put off by the hostile expressions of evangelicals," he said.