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Of course his religion cost Romney. It’s probably one of those things that would be difficult to poll accurately.

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.

“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.”

Your math is all wrong. If 11% of ALL voters said they would not vote for a Mormon, but more conservatives would vote for one, and fewer moderates and liberals would, then the numbers would likely be around 12%, 10% and 9%. It can’t be computed exactly with the data you provided. But since 11% of the TOTAL is the base percentage, that would be adjusted up and down slightly to show the differences, not divided by three, and then adjusted as you did. Your adjusted numbers are wrong.

I’m not knocking anybody, just discussing the factor Romney’s religion might have played in the voting patterns.
Well, I am knocking those here who pretend it was no factor at all, and that the article was invalid. Around 10% is a big factor in a close race.

“Not difficult to poll.”

I said difficult to poll accurately, due to what many refer to as the “Wilder Effect,” or some people are reluctant to admit their prejudice when asked questions by a pollster. So, it’s assumed by many that some will not admit their prejudice, and that the numbers are likely higher than the poll results show. No way to really quantify how much.