Reid, Mo Udall and successor Udalls, etc. seem to be more culturally Mormon, and I suspect they attract Mormon votes the way Kennedys attract the votes of weak, cultural and unthinking Catholics.
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That is not correct at all, at least not regarding the LDS (Mormons). Reid etc are not ‘cultural mormons’ in the least. Huntsman is much more a cultural Mormon. Reid, Romney, Udall are all active, true believeing Mormons. When I lived in Utah, I knew a lot of TBMs and a lot of cultural LDS and they aren’t cultural (or Jack) Mormons.
Don’t be fooled by the PR the LDS church puts out that they are conservative either, NARAL does have its support even in Utah County, by active (real) LDS. Also, the LDS have a mindset of only trusting other LDS (which has been abused). They will vote for a Mormon over a ‘gentile’ (all non Mormons, even Jews) any day.
See my tagline. I have been there, done that, and know a ‘real’ Mormon from an inactive one.
My personal experience with Mormons is real, though limited. I do know that Mo Udall, at least, described himself as not being a serious Mormon (though his family goes WAY back).
In some ways, Mormonism strikes me as being almost tribal, like Judaism (except Jews don’t proselytize). That is, they are able to separate their personal code from how they vote easily and completely.
Joe Lieberman is supposed to be an Orthodox Jew, and yet has no problem voting for abortion funding. I suspect that the pro-abort Mormons must be able to think something similar, almost grouping violations of the natural law (abortion) with their religion’s positive disciplines (e.g. no coffee or spirits for Mormons, no pork for Jews).
I have known a number of Mormons who are conservative in their politics, and I won’t write them off. Utah votes more conservatively on average than its non-Mormon neighbors for the most part. Heavily Mormon Idaho even more so.