Even though voter attitudes about Catholics, Jews, blacks and women running for the highest office have changed over the last several decades, Americans may not be ready to elect a Mormon as their president.

GOP candidates Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman -- both members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints -- are seeking the 2012 presidential nomination.

Recent polls show that many Americans would not vote for a Mormon, even if the candidate were qualified.

A recent Gallup poll reported that about one-fifth of Republicans wouldn't vote for a Mormon candidate.

In addition, a quarter of Americans and about one-third of white evangelicals polled by the Pew Research Center feel the same way.

Vanderbilt University researchers found similar religious bias in their study of voter attitudes in the 2008 campaign, when Mitt Romney finished a distant third in the Tennessee GOP primary.