- Poppycock.
Posted on 01/21/2012 8:33:06 PM PST by Colofornian
Many GOP voters -- including some well-meaning Freepers -- keep attempting to lecture voters that Mitt Romney's Mormonism "doesn't matter."
Well, tell that to three of every five South Carolina primary voters who, according to CNN exit polls, said a candidate's religion mattered either "a great deal" or "somewhat."
Click EXIT POLLS: South Carolina for polling data.
Only 40 percent of South Carolina GOP voters said that the "Religious Beliefs of Candidates Matter... Not Much/Not at All"
Two-fifths of the "Not Much/Not at All" Crowd voted pro-Romney -- compared to...
...less than one-third of them voting for Gingrich...
...less than 1 in 8 for Paul...
...and less than 1 in 16 for Santorum.
BUT...of the "Great Deal/Somewhat" Voting bloc...Romney couldn't even beat Santorum...(20-22%)...while 46% of them voted for Gingrich!
80 percent of South Carolina GOP voters identified themselves as Protestants. Their vote breakdown was:
* 42% Gingrich;
* 27% Romney;
* 17% Santorum;
* 12% Paul.
13 percent of South Carolina voters identified themselves as Roman Catholic. Their vote breakdown was:
* 37% Gingrich;
* 29% Romney;
* 15% Santorum;
* 10% Paul.
When you split out the Evangelicals/born agains within the Protestant vote, they voted:
* 44% Gingrich;
* 22% Romney;
* 21% Santorum;
* 13% Paul.
For every Evangelical voting for Romney, one was voting for Santorum...and more than two were voting for Gingrich.
For those who might be tempted to reduce these South Carolina results to a "bigoted" Southern state, think again. A late 2006 Rasmussen poll -- Election 2008: 43% Would Never Vote for Mormon Candidate (Rasmussen Poll) -- revealed:
The Rasmussen Reports survey found that 35% say that a candidate's faith and religious beliefs are very important in their voting decision. Another 27% say faith and religious beliefs are somewhat important. Ninety-two percent (92%) of Evangelical Christian voters consider a candidate's faith and beliefs important. On the partisan front, 78% of Republicans say that a candidate's faith is an important consideration, a view shared by 55% of Democrats. However, there is also a significant divide on this topic within the Democratic Party. Among minority Democrats, 71% consider faith and religious beliefs an important consideration for voting. Just 44% of white Democrats agree.
So…what percent of the following groups found that a candidate’s faith and religious beliefs are an important consideration for voting?
(1) Americans: 62%
(2) Evangelical Christians: 92%
(3) Republicans: 78%
(4) Minority Democrats 71%
(5) Democrats: 55% [still a majority]
If the other-worldly worldviews of a POTUS candidate doesn't phase your trust in their character, gullibility, level of discernment, etc...So be it. (It's a Free Republic)
But for those voters who do integrate such considerations amongst other criteria such as social issues' stances, candidate viability, scandal-free past, economic policies, and the like, this included dimension of religion describes a majority of voters!
Per CNN Exit polls (see: EXIT POLLS: South Carolina), that tally was 39% Romney; 32% Gingrich; 16% Paul; 8% Santorum.
But you know, 80 percent of South Carolina voters were Protestants...and the 2010 nation-wide election brought out over 1/3rd of ALL votes from white Evangelicals/born agains...and of this last group, 44% went Gingrich; 22% went Romney; 21% went Santorum per CNN.
You might be interested in these numbers.
Or what is it this analysis is trying to get to.
Poppycock.
Yes, and I’ve seen similar numbers on Fox’s exit polls. Looks like Newt ran the table in (almost) all categories and demographics, especially those that matter. Great job, Newt!! Thanks!!
Congratulations Freeper and Inmans, we may have have just stopped the cult from taking over a second third of our national government.
How much of the Zoroastrian, Muslim, Wiccan and Buddhist vote did each candidate get?
If the mormon was pro-life and against the gay lifestyle and the others were pro-gay/pro-abortion and people still voted against the conservative Mormon then that would be a problem.
But this is not the case here.
Two days ago on the religion forum we had a character saying that S.C. had bigoted anti Catholics who would not vote for a Catholic. According to these figures, protestants voted for Newt (Catholic) in greater percentage that self identified Catholics did.
I’m not Catholic but Newt has my vote. Romney? Never! Of course religion matters and I’ll vote for The Christian any day as opposed to the Mormon. I couldn’t possibly vote for a man that believes all that mormon hokum.
I’m in the “5 out of every 3 people don’t understand percentages” group.
No. This is just another attempt to guilt people into voting. First it was the ‘if you don’t vote Obama you’re racist’ now it’s ‘if you don’t vote Romney you’re a religious bigot’. Have you stopped to consider that someone who is evangelical or other than mormon or maybe even mormon just does not think that Romney is the best candidate? Nooooo. We’ve got to skew the polls to make it seem like religious bigotry. Get YOUR head out of the sand.
Mormonism is an important issue to “Christians”, who ostensibly are still quite important.
The unchurched don’t know it from Marsupialism.
One is no more or less condemned whether they be an unbeliever, as many politicians are, or a cultist.
I personally still evaluate them on their faith; if they’re wrong about the Truth, what else are they deceivecd about?
As for Gingrich, there is that flawed vessel thing, like Samson, etc.
Newt never made a issue of religion, but it hurt Mitts father when he ran. I think we have a muzzy now.
Will Utah vote Catholic? Just wondering.
I wish they had included LDS as a separate category. I am curious how many LDS voted for Romney, Gingrich, Santorum and Paul respectively.
So religion doesn’t matter to you at all? Worldview doesn’t matter?
It matters to me, worldview shapes political view.
Also, I used to be Mormon so I have issues trusting them based upon my experiences with them.
I’m Jewish and don’t believe in any kind of Christianity.
But I voted for Catholic Turner over Jewish Weprin because Turner’s conservative values were more in sync with my own than Weprin’s. And this was the case for most of the religious Jews in my district. Values won over identity politics.
I heard 97% of Mormons voted for Mitt.
They had to choose between 2 catholics, a mormon, and a nut case, so i can see this happening.
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