Americans across religious groups consider it worse for a politician to cheat on taxes or take bribes than to commit adultery or send sexually explicit messages to someone who's not their spouse, according to a survey by the Public Religion Research Institute.
Men are more willing than women to tolerate sexual misbehavior in their elected officials.
More than 9 in 10 Americans say it's an "extremely" or "very serious" moral problem for a public official to take a bribe, and more than 8 in 10 say the same for a politician who cheats on taxes.
But less than 7 in 10 Americans say it's a serious moral problem for a public official to have sex with a prostitute.
The poll also showed that Americans resent politicians lying about sexual behavior more than the behavior itself.
© 2013 Augsburg Fortress, Publishers
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