Americans—white evangelical Christians in particular—have come a long from the days of the Puritans, the strictly religious members of the Church of England thousands of whom settled in North America in the early 17th century.

Like their Puritan ancestors, Americans used to maintain a high bar for the personal moral behavior of their elected officials, according to Religion News.

But now, today's Americans "appear to have vanquished their inner Puritan and are now far more accepting of sinning politicians," the Christian news source noted.

The comment was based on the results of a survey released on Wednesday showing 61 percent of Americans now say that "immoral personal behavior does not preclude public officials from carrying out their public or professional duties with honesty and integrity."

Five years ago, only 44 percent of Americans said the same thing.

The survey, conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute and the Brookings Institution, showed a dramatic shift in the viewpoint of white evangelical Protestants unlike any other group.

The survey specifically showed that 72 percent of white evangelicals say an elected official "can behave ethically even if they have committed transgressions in their personal life." That was a 42-point jump from 2011, when only 30 percent agreed with that statement.

The survey also showed that these conservative Christians continue to give strong backing to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, with nearly 7 in 10 of them saying they will vote for him over his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.

However, the latest poll showed a completely different picture, with Clinton leading Trump by a huge 51-36 point margin among likely voters ahead of Wednesday's third and final debate, according to Religion News.

Moreover, the poll showed a shift in views among the Christian conservatives who are supporting Trump.

Many evangelical critics of Trump have said that Bible-believing Christians could never support Trump, who has been married three times already and bragged about his sexual exploits on women.

However, other evangelicals continue to support Trump, saying that Christians need a strong leader who can protect them from secularising trends in America life.