Mormon Survey Suggests Romney Faces Uphill Battle

Mitt Romney has surged forward in his quest for the Republican Party’s nomination for president following his recent victories in the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary. The former Massachusetts governor leads all of his fellow G.O.P. candidates by double-digits in the latest national polling data as well. And Romney has even closed the gap in a hypothetical matchup against President Obama. The latest polls suggest that he is currently in a statistical dead heat with the incumbent if he were to match up against him in the general election this November.

But Republican voters, as well as the American public in general, have taken their time to warm up to Mitt Romney. Some have suggested that Romney’s Mormon religion could be a danger to America, and others believe that his Mormonism might be what has prevented Romney from gaining traction sooner. A new poll of Mormons in America, released on Thursday, may give some credence to this notion.

The Pew Forum poll suggests that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, more commonly known as Mormons, face ignorance and discrimination in the United States, much of it coming from evangelical Christians.

More than 60 percent of those surveyed said that Americans are generally uninformed about Mormonism, while close to half suggested that Mormons face “a lot of discrimination,” most of it, they say, from evangelical Christians who tend not to believe that Mormons are fellow Christians. Half of the Mormons surveyed say that evangelicals are hostile toward their religion.

Yet, as the saying goes, politics makes strange bedfellows. Mormons, like evangelical Christians, overwhelmingly lean to the right on the political spectrum. Two-thirds of those surveyed identify themselves as conservative while only eight percent say that they are liberal. Additionally, 72 percent have an unfavorable view of President Obama.

Romney, as might be expected, has the solid support of the American Mormon community behind him. The survey reveals that 86 percent of those polled have a favorable view of him. Meanwhile, Jon Huntsman, the former Utah governor who is competing with Romney for the Republican nomination, and who is also a Mormon, is viewed favorably by only half of the respondents.


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