“It’s clear, however, that Romney’s belief in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints cost him in his presidential quest. Romney himself acknowledged that had he been a Baptist, for example, he may not have lost the Iowa caucuses - a devastating setback to his early surge strategy.”
The article is right on. Of course his religion cost Romney. It’s probably one of those things that would be difficult to poll accurately. But I know a few people personally and heard a good number on call-in shows say they’d never vote for a Mormon for president. If even 10% or less hold such views, it could be very costly in close elections as the Republican primaries have been, with a presumptive nominee with around 38% of the vote.
And there are voters who would never vote for an evangelical, or a Jew, or a black, or a Hispanic. It’s just part of society, but again, it’s difficult to quantify since some would never admit it aloud, or even to a pollster on the phone.
But I notice we have some of the same old Romney haters here pretending it was no factor at all. Pretending seems to be what they’re best at.
Not difficult to poll. Gallup has done it a few times. In '99, it was 17% who said "no" to an LDS POTUS candidate. In Feb '07, at first it was 24% who said "no." But then Gallup decided to do a fuller sample. Of that sample, the breakdown was: 78% said yes "comfortably." 10% said, "Yes, with reservations." 11% said "no."
So that's 11% of ALL voters. Then when they broke that down, since conservatives were MORE likely to vote for an LDS POTUS candidate than either liberals (9% more) or moderates (11% more), you have to conclude that the breakdown of that 11% was: 4% liberals; 4% moderates; 3% conservatives.
So stop knocking the 3% of conservatives when 94-95% of LDS voters did the exact same thing in reverse...those LDS voters took into consideration the "personal qualities" of a candidate, according to the Salt Lake Tribune...and voted accordingly.
“But I notice we have some of the same old Romney haters here pretending it was no factor at all. “
Reminds me of the anti-Americans who claim the Jihad is only about U.S. foreign policy — it has nothing to do with Islam or Christianity.