Wow, I've received frighteningly little interviewer training, but the "things to not say/consider" talking point has been reiterated strongly. That said, I can't say I'm surprised.
I once sat next to an HR manager as he asked a room full of entry-level candidates who they thought should win the next presidential election. The woman from HR who was sitting on his other side turned and gave him a horrified look. A minute later when he tried to ask about their religion, she shut him down.
At a big company a while back I sent an email asking about parental leave. I got an email back from very young HR girl who seemed perfectly nice... but clearly didn't understand the policy as she mixed up a lot of terms and concepts in her response.
But that wasn't really a big deal, I was used to HR reps at that company not understanding anything about benefits.
The kicker was that her profile picture in the email was her in the company bathroom, taking one of those "hold the camera up in the air to accentuate cleavage" type photos.
I didn't even want to keep her her email open too long...
It's a bad question, but not an illegal one (in the US). You can be no-hired or fired legally because of your political views or support for a political candidate.
When I was working in China, I would be copied on emails asking intern employees to verify that they were hepatitis free. This was and is very illegal in China, but the vendor company did it anyways.
