Poll: Rapture Would Be Great for Obama

The Rapture didn’t happen last weekend—and that’s a shame for Barack Obama. Public Policy Polling ran a poll to see what political effect the Rapture might have. Only 2% of respondents actually thought it was coming on May 21, a staggeringly low number. “It's really close to impossible to ask a question on a poll that only 2% of people say yes to,” writes pollster Tom Jensen, noting that in a previous poll 10% said Barack Obama was the Anti-Christ.

But 11% of voters do think the Rapture will come in their lifetime. If it happened by next November—and that 11% represented the people carted off to heaven—it would be a game-changer for Obama, boosting his lead by 2-5 points. Rapture believers favor Republicans more than Democrats in general, though the only candidate they really like is Sarah Palin; she has a 53/38 favorability with them, while everyone else garnered more disapproval than approval. (More rapture stories.)