Measuring Falwell's Popularity Over His Lifetime

— -- Popularity with most Americans was not among the Rev. Jerry Falwell's achievements.

Indeed, while some public figures describe intricate paths in their personal ratings -- arcs and twists following the course of events and their own actions -- Falwell's ratings, across his career, were largely stable, and generally negative.

The latest public opinion data on Falwell was a Newsweek poll in November, conducted among evangelical Christians only. About as many saw him unfavorably (34 percent) as favorably (31 percent); the remaining 35 percent didn't know of him, or had no opinion.

Another poll, in April 2004, asked about Falwell among the general public; 12 percent of Americans rated him generally positively, 43 percent not so. A Newsweek survey 10 years earlier was similar: Twenty percent saw Falwell favorably, 44 percent unfavorably.

Polls back to the 1980s found more of the same -- generally unfavorable ratings, steadily across time, by 2-1 or more. In a Gallup poll in May 1987, 26 percent of Americans saw Falwell favorably, 51 percent unfavorably; in a Gallup poll in September 1984 it was 21 percent favorable, 46 percent unfavorable; in a Time magazine poll in September 1981, 16 percent favorable, 41 percent unfavorable.

The source of these ratings seems to have been two-pronged: Disquiet both with the approach of Falwell's Moral Majority organization, and with Falwell himself.

A Harris poll in September 1985 asked about Falwell having urged investment in then-apartheid South Africa, and calling Bishop Desmond Tutu a "phony." Both those remarks were overwhelmingly unpopular. And in a Roper poll in April 1987, 62 percent said they held Falwell in "not very high regard."

In terms of his movement, in a January 1981 poll 55 percent of Americans said it was not proper for "clergymen to back political candidates." In an NBC poll that same year, 65 percent said religious groups should not get involved in election campaigns.