Mitt Romney's Mormonism costing him support among religious Republicans

[alp227]

Source: The Guardian

Mitt Romney's Mormon beliefs are costing him crucial support among some deeply religious Republican voters as he slips back from his former position as frontrunner in the race for the presidential nomination.

A poll by the Pew Research Centre released on Wednesday shows that one-third of Republican voters do not regard Mormon beliefs as Christian and two-thirds say that it is a "very different" religion from their own.

Importantly for Romney, 53% of evangelical Protestants say that Mormonism is not a Christian religion and 15% said it would make them less likely to vote for him.

Evangelical Christians are the single largest voting bloc in the Republican party. They made up more than 40% of voters in the 2008 Republican primaries and are particularly important in states that select their candidates early in the race, such as Iowa and South Carolina.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/23/mitt-romney-mormonism-republican-voters

[get the red out]

1. Mormon ads

Is this part of the reason the Mormon Church is running a big ad campaign to try to make sure people see them as just like anyone else?

[qb]

6. I remember lots of Mormon ads whose message was merely being kind to others.

Of course I now know that "others" excludes LGBT people.

[get the red out]

10. I read about their new campaign

There's a new ad campaign out which is supposed to "normalize" Mormons in the eyes of non-Mormons. I read that was the purpose of it in an article http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/18/us/mormon-ad-campaign-seeks-to-improve-perceptions.html?_r=1, so I'm not trying to say anything negative, personally.

I just wonder if the ad doesn't have another purpose, to help Mitt with Evangelical Christians?

[pnwmom]

12. You bet. n/t

[Tom Ripley]

18. They ran lots of "normalizing" ads during the 60s and 70s that were instrumental in

changing perceptions from "cult" to "denomination"

[Gato Moteado]

2. romney will soon flip-flop on his mormonism.....

....and say he's really a baptist and has never been a mormon.

[Jim__]

3. If he thought he could get away with it - he'd do it in a NY second.

[HockeyMom]

4. Look at where Santorum is in these polls

He is probably the most religious of the bunch, BUT he is also Catholic. Maybe these people just don't want to come right out and say why they don't want him also? How many consider Catholics a cult too, but they don't want to advertise that and lose the big voting block?

[apnu]

5. So is Newt, Calista converted him. (nt)

[alp227]

9. The Catholic JFK won election 51 years ago!

I thought that most Americans won't give JFK the Romney treatment now.

[HockeyMom]

14. The Right Wing Religious element

of the Republican Party will, especially in the Southern Bible Belt. Who was that Baptist preacher of one of the candidates who said something about the Catholic Church being a Cult? I don't remember which Republican candidate it was, but he or she really distanced themselves from that preacher's comment.

[alp227]

17. Rick Perry

[spin]

7. My mother and step father converted to Mormonism ...

and of course tried to convert me. However I like coffee and beer, consequently all their efforts failed. I have no problem with those of the Mormon faith. To be fair I have not really spent a lot of time studying their beliefs although some that I know of are a little strange. Overall Mormons strike me as good people.

However one of my step dad's sons is a fundamentalist Christian and he was outraged when he father converted to Mormonism. He feels the religion is a cult and of course all who believe in it are not in any way Christian. It amazed me just how much he hates Mormonism. He would never vote for a Mormon although he definitely is a conservative Republican.

[arbusto_baboso]

16. There are some major issues with mormonism, and you don't have to be a fundie to

have problems with them.

If you have a day or two, you might want to visit exmormon.org and check out the short topics board.

If you want to know about mormonism.... ask an EX-mormon and ask WHY he's ex-mormon...

[liberal N proud]

8. Can you be religious and not be republican

I know that according to the religious right, you must be republican if you are religious.

[pnwmom]

13. Ask Joe Biden or any of the Kennedys. n/t

[Ship of Fools]

11. No worries. Obama is so detested, they'll pull the lever for Mitt anyway.

[truthisfreedom]

15. Convert! Repent! The end is near! (or is that supposed to be capital End?)

You heathen!!!11!11!!!1!

[Douglas Carpenter]

19. "Mitt Romney announces that he is a born again Christian - an Evangelical and always has been

and that he never really was a Mormon." If he thought he could pull that off - I think he would try.

[freshwest]

20. Rush the leader of the GOP doesn't like Mittens or Kittens. Damn him to hell.