Comments on: Mormon machine on the move

By: tortdog

tortdog — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 20:44:42 +0000

I think the primary system is incredibly important. It allows me to get rid of people I disagree with at the primary level before I am forced to choose between someone I dislike and someone I can’t stand.

I can more easily vote my conscience in the primary (and often vote against the incumbents in my primary).

By: ltbugaf

ltbugaf — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 19:11:37 +0000

Yes, that’s always the problem. You have to appeal to a hard core of one party in order to get that party’s nomination, before you can ever get the real chance to appeal directly to the electorate. It tends to foist less desirable candidates onto the ticket.

By: tortdog

tortdog — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 18:52:10 +0000

Boston Globe has been hitting this hard, positing that Romney won’t have a chance because of evangelists, which are a core part of the GOP base.

The question is less what percent of the public won’t vote for a Mormon (what percent of the public won’t vote for a Republican?), it’s more whether the GOP BASE will refuse to vote for Romney. And THAT’S important because while the anti-Mormons might hold their noses and vote for Romney over Hillary Clinton, they wouldn’t have to in the GOP primary.

That’s why the Globe’s position (evangelicals won’t vote for him) was important – Could Romney get past the GOP primary? But, like I said, Romney came in second only to Bill Frist in the straw poll among southerners.

http://nationaljournal.com/srlc/

If Romney can win the primaries (which coming in a strong second in the Bible Belt isn’t a bad showing), then he might be the ticket.

By: ltbugaf

ltbugaf — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 18:37:50 +0000

I hope you’re right about turning the corner—not just for the sake of Presidential politics.

By: ltbugaf

ltbugaf — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 18:32:40 +0000

…Here’s a Washington Monthly article that cites the figures I mentioned but I don’t see an actual source reference to the studies: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2005/0509.sullivan1.html

This one cites an LA Times poll showing the won’t-vote-for-a-Mormon crowd at an amazing 37%, though other polls show lower figures: http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=7971009

This one cites a 1999 Zogby poll—probably the later poll referred to in the first article—showing a 17% refusal to consider voting Mormon: http://www.sltrib.com/ci_4212788

By: tortdog

tortdog — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 18:28:42 +0000

There was a straw poll in the South among the evangelicals and, if I recall correctly, Mitt Romney came in second place, topping McCain and another top Republican.

I think that we’ve turned the corner.

By: ltbugaf

ltbugaf — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 18:20:56 +0000

Tortdog, I don’t deny that things are better now, and I don’t deny that many evangelicals are turning away from falsehoods about Latter-day Saints. I was just maintaining that there are still plenty of them who are so appalled at the idea of a Mormon President that their thinking will stop there. However, as you said, the proof is in the pudding.

At this point, there is some proof in polling data which show that whereas the percentage of voters who say they would never vote for a Catholic has gone down and the percentage of voters who say they would never vote for a black candidate has gone down, the numbers who say the same about Mormons have remained fairly constant over the last few decades. I’ll see if I can find you a link…

By: tortdog

tortdog — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 15:16:19 +0000

Well if you are right, then someone had best inform these malcontents: Evangelicals for Mitt They obviously are not in sync with what they are supposed to be doing. Maybe because they didn't have the internet 170 years ago, and forgot that they are supposed to be killing Mormons.

By: Kim Siever

Kim Siever — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 14:56:50 +0000

All the emails I get.

By: tortdog

tortdog — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 14:55:25 +0000

Your statement is not true. I live in the Bible Belt and as the LDS population increases I am hearing from more and more Southern Baptists that they don’t believe in the myths being told about the LDS faith. In fact, the LDS Church works closely with the Southern Baptists in Texas in the larger cities (Austin, Dallas San Antonio and Houston).

What makes you say that the attitude of parishoners of these religions has not changed in 170 years?