The director of “The Other Side of Heaven” has started a campaign to help counter anti-Mormon bigotry. Mitch Davis has started a web site RunMittRun.org and is hoping to raise money and awareness to counter the large number of people who say they would not vote for a Mormon for president.
Davis, a graduate of Brigham Young University who lives in San Diego, has already invested his own money in a poll of South Carolinians. One-third of the respondents said they could not vote for a member of the LDS Church for president.
The results are similar to a Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll of registered voters nationwide, released earlier this month. That poll found 37 percent of those questioned would not vote for an LDS presidential candidate. But the South Carolina poll went further.
Half of the respondents in South Carolina said LDS Church members don’t believe in the Bible, Davis said, and 44 percent thought members of the church still practiced polygamy. One-fourth believed that Mormons aren’t even Christians.
“The level of ignorance appalled me. I was embarrassed for our church and for our country,” Davis said. He proposes an advertising campaign that would possibly feature prominent members of the LDS Church, including quarterback Steve Young and singer Gladys Knight.
I applaud Mitch’s effort, but I still think such polls are overplayed. They only measure a person’s theoretical opinions and are not necessarily a reliable marker for individual voters’ responses to individual candidates. Imagine the following poll among Republican primary voters: “Would you rather vote for A)A man who’s been divorced three times and is pro-choice and pro-gay rights, B, A man who has consistently opposed the religious right and supports loose immigration laws or C)A man who is a loyal father and husband, has the been successful governor of a blue state and supports conservative values?” If you were to word the poll this way, A (Giuliani) and B (McCain) would never have a chance against Romney (C) in a Republican primary.
Having said that, any efforts to support the Church and overcome ignorance about Romney are welcome.
Katherine Jean Lopez at NRO just made pretty much the same argument today.
I think the problem is we never vote for a candidate based only on the issues. I think you would see similar number in a poll that included and African-American of female candidate. Based only on the issues both of them may get high numbers. Unfortunately there are segments of the population that probably would vote against them for their sex and color, just lie some would vote against Romney based on religion.
Romney has a bigger problem; he has consistently flip-flopped on important social issues and is a fiscal moderate at best. Counter to (Mormon) public opinion the vast majority of Americans vote based on key issues. Republicans tend to be more issue conscious than the Democrats and primary voters tend to be the most issue conscious.
Republicans primary voters tend to be one or two issue voters. The key issues include but are not limited to; Abortion, Family values (anti gay marriage), Gun rights, Taxes, Free markets (anti regulation) and in this election immigration. Mitt scores low to very liberal on many of these issues including abortion, gun rights, taxes and free markets. Moreover he is questionable on civil union (family values, gay marriage-light) and other key issues. In Massachusetts he passed and signed a bill that mandated employers provide health care for there employees; very anti-free market behavior.
Furthermore, religious bigotry is and always has been part of every political campaign. For example in areas of Utah it would be very difficult if not impossible for an atheist, Shinto, Unitarian, Scientologist, Buddhist or Muslim to get elected. Most Mormons would not trust any of these religions or lack of religion to share their core values. That is just another form of religious bigotry.
Moreover, the articles don’t share with us details about the polls, cross tabs etc… Therefore we know next to nothing about which party the bigots represent or whether they would ever vote for a Republican, what sex they are, or what there voting frequency is, and whether they are likely to vote in a primary or general election. That is a lot of unknowns.
Finally Mitt has a bigger problem and that is the issue of trust. Voters today will not trust a politician that changes his/her mind especially when it looks like he/she is changing for political reasons. He will win or lose based on his positions (issues) and whether voters believe they can trust him.
I am equally sick of the bigotry and applaud the efforts of Mr. Davis. However, Mitt Romney’s problems are much bigger than religious bigotry; they go to the core of his beliefs and policy positions. Most members of the Church would be appalled if they knew the voting record of Mitt Romney. He is a liberal Republican and would fit in well with the Democrat party.
Latter-day Saints face religious bigotry from a subset of the people who claim to face religious bigotry from the larger society. I find that deliciously ironic. I hope Romney is the nominee just because it would be a great natural experiment in just how mainstream Mormonism has become. My hunch is that Evangelicals who opposed him because of his church would be shouted down by mainstream Evangelicals who see Mormonism as part of the family, albeit a weird sibling.
This is just a repeat, I’m sure, of some of the arguments above, but I can’t resist (because I posed the same question to a family member on this same topic).
What’s Mitch plan to do about Mormons who won’t vote for Mitt?
Can someone give me an email so I can contact Mitch?? I do research and am trying to reach him.
Thanks!
Ric
My comment in #5 was a bit tongue-in-cheek, so on a more serious note…
I’m a little concerned with a trend I’m seeing from Church members to push the “Mormon” candidate. There is a growing notion to refute anti-Romney sentiments from evangelicals with a “Romney the candidate who happens to be Mormon” line, but to say to fellow Mormons that he’s “Romney the Mormon candidate”.
We can’t have it both ways. Either he’s the Mormon candidate or he’s just another candidate who happens to be Mormon. Romney supporters need to learn that there are both positive and negative ramifications of either stance.
I know I’m tired of hearing about it, and we’re not yet at the midterm elections.
Some people suggest that the real bigotry against the LDS is going to come more from the “Left” than the “Right.”
They assert that we need to be more worried about John Krakauer’s “Banner of Heaven” crowd than Rev. Jerry Falwell’s crowd.
Who knows … it’s possible I guess.