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 Mitt Romney announcing his presidential candidacy in New Hampshire on Thursday.
June 2nd, 2011
03:04 PM ET
Is America ready for a Mormon president?By Dan Gilgoff, CNN.com Religion Editor (CNN) - Mitt Romney’s campaign team knows that his Mormon faith scared off Republican voters the last time he ran for president. But they believe a lot has changed in the last four years. For starters, Romney is now much better known. The former Massachusetts governor campaigned hard in the 2008 primaries – even addressing his Mormonism head-on in a major speech — and has stayed in the public eye since, popping up on late-night talk shows and on cable news channels. Romney’s Mormonism, the thinking goes, is less exotic than it was four years ago because the candidate is more familiar. Plus, unlike in 2008, there’s a Democrat in the White House for Republican voters to unite against. The Romney camp hopes the Obama factor will boost support for a battle-tested candidate who’s shown he can raise the hundreds of millions of dollars White House bids require, regardless of the candidate’s religious affiliation. And unlike the 2008 Republican primaries, when George W. Bush was in the White House and debate over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan loomed large, next year’s elections are poised to hang on the economy. Not a bad time, maybe, for a guy with a Harvard MBA and a career spent turning around financially troubled companies and the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. “The country’s really in a tough situation — the economy’s in a bad place and so people suddenly think that a guy with Mitt Romney’s capacity and experience looks a lot more attractive than he did four years ago,” says Mark DeMoss, a senior adviser to Romney’s campaign, which launched Thursday. “That makes his faith much less of an issue than it was four years ago,” says DeMoss, who is tasked with helping Romney woo evangelical voters, a huge chunk of the GOP base and a constituency that’s historically been wary of Mormonism. Whether DeMoss is right may make the difference in whether Romney, the current Republican frontrunner based on polls and fundraising, can actually win the Republican nomination and, ultimately, the White House. But Romney may not be the only Mormon running for president. Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman is seriously flirting with a presidential bid. Huntsman, Obama’s former ambassador to China, recently took a five-day swing through New Hampshire, site of the first-in-the-nation Republican primary, and has hired staff in South Carolina, another key primary state. The prospect of a Huntsman campaign means the nation could see an unprecedented test of whether the GOP — and, perhaps, the rest of the country — is ready for a Mormon president in an era when candidates’ religious beliefs have become weighty campaign issues. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as the Mormon Church is officially known, certainly seems eager for Mormonism to be less an issue in the presidential race than it was for Romney in 2008 “Recent media coverage seems to lean toward the conclusion that among many Americans, faith will be less of an issue in this election than it was in 2008,” church spokesman Michael Purdy said in a statement to CNN. “But it’s really for others to speculate on this.” Public opinion polls suggest a lingering bias against Mormon candidates. A survey released Thursday by the Pew Research Center found that a quarter of American adults admit to being less likely to vote for a Mormon candidate for president. The survey found that resistance to Mormon candidates was even higher among two groups: liberal Democrats and evangelicals, who overwhelmingly vote Republican. One in three white evangelicals said they were less likely to support a Mormon candidate. That creates a stiff headwind for Romney and Huntsman, given evangelicals’ primary power. In 2008, evangelicals accounted for 60 percent of Republican voters in Iowa, home to the first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses, and in South Carolina, whose primaries come hard on the heels of New Hampshire’s. In 2008, Romney’s Mormonism “was a real factor in Iowa and South Carolina that predisposed many potential voters to never to consider Romney or hear his message,” said Gary Marx, who directed conservative outreach for Romney the last time he ran. That year, Romney placed second in Iowa and fourth in South Carolina behind then-frontrunner Mike Huckabee – a Baptist preacher who won major evangelical support. Though Mormons consider themselves to be Christians, many evangelicals consider the Latter-day Saints to be a cult. Evangelicals object to the Mormon belief that the Book of Mormon is the revealed word of God and to such Mormon practices as proxy baptisms for the dead. Evangelicals and Mormons also compete for converts. Many evangelical leaders have discouraged their followers from translating such differences into opposition to Mormon candidates. But that message isn’t always heeded. “I don’t think it’s much of an issue among the leadership in evangelical circles,” Michael Farris, an influential evangelical activist, says of Mormon candidates. “But I don’t know if that is always true at the grassroots level.” Richard Land, who directs public policy for the Southern Baptist Convention, the country’s largest evangelical denomination, says evangelicals could coalesce around Romney but that the conditions would have to be just right. “If Southern Baptists have a choice between an evangelical candidate, a Catholic and a Mormon and all three appear to be equally conservative and equally likely to beat Barack Obama, they’ll vote for the evangelical,” says Land, who has informally advised Romney on how to deal with his faith on the campaign trail. “If there’s no such evangelical [in the] race, they’ll vote for the Catholic,” he says, “But if there’s no other candidate who’s likely to beat Obama, they’ll vote for the Mormon.” Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, an evangelical, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Catholic, are running for the GOP nomination. Beyond theological challenges, conservative activists like Land and Farris say Romney faces skepticism among religious conservatives because he once supported abortion rights and signed a healthcare law in Massachusetts that critics say represented a dramatic government overreach. But those close to Romney argue that Huckabee’s decision not to enter the 2012 race creates an opportunity for Romney to pick up more evangelical support. Or, they say, it could wind up splitting evangelical voters among multiple primary candidates, making evangelicals a less potent force. DeMoss, a Christian public relations executive who also helped Romney with evangelical outreach in 2008, says one of the victories from the last campaign was that no big-name evangelical came out against Romney over his Mormonism. This time, DeMoss is working to get some evangelical leaders to go a step further and publicly support Romney. After Romney’s 2008 defeat, one nationally known evangelical leader privately told DeMoss that he’d voted for Romney in the primaries. “I remember thinking, it would have been nice if somebody else knew that,” says DeMoss, who believes such revelations would have made more evangelicals comfortable supporting a Mormon candidate. Huntsman’s entry into the presidential race could make Mormonism less of an issue if it has a mainstreaming effect. But the two candidates’ religious affiliations could play out quite differently. Romney has long been active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), having occupied Mormon leadership positions like bishop (the rough equivalent of a lay pastor) and stake president (someone who oversees groups of Mormon congregations). “I believe in my Mormon faith and I endeavor to live by it,” Romney said in a December 2007 speech in which he addressed his Mormonism. “My faith is the faith of my fathers — I will be true to them and to my beliefs.” Huntsman, like Romney, spent two years abroad as a Mormon missionary but has kept some distance from the LDS church. As governor of Utah, he loosened liquor laws that had been inspired by Mormon orthodoxy and broke with his church in signing a law allowing civil unions for gay couples. In a recent television interview, Huntsman affirmed his Mormon faith but added that Mormonism is “a very diverse and heterogeneous cross-section of people. ... I probably add to that diversity somewhat.” A Huntsman adviser who often deals with the media declined to respond to requests for comment. Matthew Bowman, an editor at a Mormon studies journal called Dialogue, says Huntsman hails from a slightly younger generation of Mormons who are less defensive about their Mormonism. “Huntsman is a Mormon who thinks of his faith not as something that separates him from American culture or as something he has to defend or explain away, which is what Romney did,” says Bowman. “Romney is always hyperaware of his Mormonism.” That means Huntsman may face fewer questions about his Mormonism should he run. The LDS church, for its part, says its policy is to steer clear of electoral politics. Some church observers say the controversy the church generated by supporting California’s 2008 gay marriage ban, Proposition 8, exacerbated its political reticence. At the same time, the church has capitalized on increased attention paid to Mormonism - provoked by everything from Romney’s 2008 campaign to the current hit Broadway musical, “Book of Mormon” - with a succession of public awareness campaigns. The church website Mormon.org, for example, was recently revamped with an eye toward educating non-Mormons about the religion. The site features video profiles of Mormons from different walks of life. “The message of these ads is that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints are your friends and neighbors,” says Purdy, the church spokesman. “We are professionals and tradespeople, artists and teachers and everything in between.” Put another way, the message is that Mormons are normal, everyday Americans. With the Republican primary race finally starting in earnest, the nation is about get a major glimpse into whether GOP voters agree. soundoff (3,046 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 Next »
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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wow, the lies about mormons and the lds relegion in these comments is disturbing. and you idiots are the ones who are going to choose who will be the next pres? thats more scarry than a mormon president. hey libs, harry reid is a mormon, you guys got a problem w/ him?
I can't stand Harry Reid or his son. I am so glad to be out of Nevada.
Artist – Is it just because of them being persons of Faith or because of political reasons?
I'm an atheist so all the religions are equally crazy to me (Scientology isn't a REAL religion so it still gets to be crazier). I find it kind of odd when people bash him for his religion and I'm the one who doesn't care about it because, sadly, the seculars will probably never have a secular presidential candidate to vote for... and even if we did I wouldn't vote for him SOLELY on that. Romney doesn't seem to wear his religion on his sleeve. He's not campaigning for Mormonism. W. Bush pushed his evangelical side a lot more than Romney is pushing his Mormonism. As far as I'm concerned... whatever you believe behind closed doors is your business... what I care about is your policy. If your faith controls your policy making in a way that interferes with my interests as a voter then I will be less likely to vote for you, but won't slight you for the faith itself.
Besides, if Romney wins the primary and makes it to the general election, the people who just really hate Obama will hate Obama more than they hate mormons so how much will it really effect the election? I think the RomneyCare thing hurts his chances more than his religion. IMO.
>>>Faints in awe of a great post<<<
Dude, you do make some good points. I have chastised others for even suggesting that religion could be a reason to vote FOR a person. But, I must say in all fairness that religion is probably one of the GREATEST single reasons to NOT vote for someone. Religious people, even the decent and nice ones, tend to feel that they are plain and simply RIGHT when it comes to putting their religious ideals into law that ALL of us have to deal with and that is not appropriate. Making a law that says stealing is wrong needs no religious influence any more than a law against murder needs that... but... the religilots will eventually start bringing up abortion etc. ad infinitum. And THEY aren't even the REALLY crazy ones like Mormons are.
>>>"....tend to feel that they are plain and simply RIGHT"
Charles – Can you not say that about everyone on this planet. Espeically the "alpha" dogs that run for office. In some ways I think America holds their elected officials to be ones that emit the pressence that they are always right. Now they love when a politician says that they are wrong.... they cheer him, pat him on the back and then show him the door.
I don't care what his personal beliefs are as long as they guide him to do the right thing for the country. The latter is a quality deficient in our current leadership.
Why should I care the name of the religion that Mitt or anyother politician believes? I'd rather be concerned about, do they have the experience to hold the office, do they have an idea as to how a budget can be balanced, do they understand the foreign affairs that face our nation..... They could pray to some southern hindu baptist middle eastern prophet for all I care. Long as they don't try to use their office to prompt their tribal beliefs.
You miss the point friend... That is EXACTLY what people of faith tend to do, most especially Christians and of course, Muslims.
Religion shouldn't enter into presidential politics at all, Mormon or any other. The US is not ready for Romney I know that, and Romney is not ready to be president either. The Republican party has no actual reason to exist at this point, it's just a suicide booth for the deranged. On the ticket and as voters. Romney will destroy what little reality he has to try to appeal to these people, just as McCain destroyed his picking Palin. It's a party of doom, hopefully only it's own.
"The Republican party has no actual reason to exist at this point, "
Yeah, we have seen history of what a one party state can do. I need to brush up on German.
How about an agnostic or atheist!?! At least we would be getting into a group with brains.
I think you are confusing lack of faith for increased intelligence. There is nothing that would support such a thought.
Question, brains of what type of species since everything just happened by chance according to the atheist and agnostic.
This leds me to believe that NO atheist and or agnostic should run for any type of government office you're here bye accicdent and we don't need anymore accidents in the white house.
Lycidas – well there are certainly no exceptions to those of faith being unintelligent.
Noreaster60 – you might want to crack a science book, because nothing you said makes any sense. As a matter of fact, it sounds like what they teach at that screwy place called the Creation Museum, aka pseudoscience.
@GreenieInPA- True, but that's because having a faith or not having one has nothing to do with intelligence. They are not connected.
I see some think(RC for one) that Romney's church would direect his Pres directions. The EXACT same charge was levelled at John Kennedy. Many Protestants stated Kennedy would be obligated to Pope; indeed, that the Pope would be running the United States after his election. WAS NEVER TRUE. Kennedy made one the best we had.
Dude, you cannot even HOPE to tell me that Kenedy never made one presidential decision into which his faith entered the desicion making process. He may not have come right out and SAID SO, but you know better than and to act like you don't cheapens all of us.
Mitt Romney is no John Kennedy, That religious cult has a much firmer grip on Romney then the catholic church had on Kennedy.
I wouldn't want any person holding such a powerful position as the president who believes he will become a God and his wife or wives will become Goddess this is what the mormon church teaches their followers who holds great wealth or powerful positions.
Never trust a mormon to have your interests in mind. Rest assured a mormon always has the church interest in mind.
Can't really agree with that. I work with quite a few Moromons and most don't let their faith get in th way of their jobs.
I totally agree!!!
Mormons are already serving in congress now, so what's your point?
Would love to see Obama lose, but would never vote for a Mormon. There's one too many "m" in the name of that "religion."
No, I'm not ready for one. The Mormon Church is nothing but a religious corporation. Its bad enough that we have politicians trying to run the country like a corporate business. I am not convinced that Romney is for the average person or the middle class.
I'm sorry but asnyone who believes in a bunch of imaginary nonsense is not rational and therefore not a good candidate for leadership of any country. Also a ruthless corporate type. Keep looking.
I agree, and that would disqualify any Catholic, most Protestants and Muslims, most practicing Jews (about 10% of "cultural" Jews in the US), etc. Any belief in deistic religion is delusional at least in an informal way.
So, you are the same as the folks on the other side who ignorantly state that they can not vote for anyone that is not of Faith. 🙂
I agree, we shouldn't elect delusional people into office.
For that reason, I think anybody with an R or D next to their political name plate should be disqualified, as should their kool-aid slurping followers.
You said it!
@Lord Gobble- Thank goodness our nation's laws aren't directed by your closed minded and biased thoughts.
Lord Gobble
I'm sorry but asnyone who believes in a bunch of imaginary nonsense is not rational and therefore not a good candidate for leadership of any country. Also a ruthless corporate type. Keep looking.
---------------–
However, most seem to be of the delusional kind. I think what you might mean is you are looking for someone who is not too far into the rabbit hole. There are degrees of delusion...just hope we vote the less delusional
I don't care which religion he follows – Keep church and state separate. Religion should have NO bearing on how the country is run.
Agreed!
I agree, however the mormon church has earned the trust yet. A religion created less than 200 years ago is far from legit.
I agree. It isn't that hard to separate the two.
Who can vote for someone who doesn't realize that Mormonism is a cult? I mean, do your homework. This denomination was started by a drug addicted pedophile.
I am sorry that you don't have your facts straight but let me help you out and go to LDS.org and all of the answers are there but I worn you you must listen with your whole heart and not have such hatred.
@Steven- Are you implying that being a "cult" is a bad thing in all cases?
"Are you implying that being a "cult" is a bad thing in all cases?"
Are you implying there is a case where being a cult is a good thing?
@Tonya- Considering that Christianity is a cult of Judaism..yes.
There seems to be a lot of ignorance shedding light on itself here. Do people posting comments on this website realize that the Mormon church donates more for humanitarian service and aid than any other religion? They can talk the talk and walk the walk....unlike some of you.
cm – Most just see the "R" at the back of his name and they go into idiot mode. Its the same as the racist when they see Obama's skin color or like some over on FoxNews.com when they see a "D" at the back of a persons name.
They are a cult. And I know. I have first cousins who were sent away on missions. Besides, look at who started them! Smith was a total freak! An opium addict and a pedophile!
People are not ignorant. They simply do not believe in the Mormon doctrine. As far as humanitarian aide- yes it is what 's expected of them. If you know anything about Mormon doctrine you would know they place heavy emphasis on " good works". My question to you is, is their humanitarian endeavors based on a true love and benevolence for those who are in need, or is it motivated by a sense of fulfilling Mormon duty?
>>>"My question to you is, is their humanitarian endeavors based on a true love and benevolence for those who are in need, or is it motivated by a sense of fulfilling Mormon duty?"
Should it matter. Are not those two things the same. Its as easy as saying Humanitarian efforts = true love wanting to help folks
So there you have it Mitt. Better convert to something more main line if you're serious about winning it.
I have no problem with his religion, although I would prefer a non-religious President. However, I wonder how the evangi-delusionals who populate the Iowa caucuses will see it. But there is no way I would vote for ANY Republican given their malignant agenda and dysfunctional ideology. And Romney is definitly an opportunist suffering from JohnKerry disease–there are numerous issues where he "was for it before he was against it." He will be a dream for President Obama to run against–perhaps he will pull "a McCain" and have Sarah Palin as VP "to attract the woman voters." LOL!
Of course he can win. We elected a man who was supposed to be a Muslim, so why not a Mormon! Question is will he win?
No, America isn't ready. A study last year showed that distrust for Romney's religion is strong, and it is strongest among those who are the most ignorant about Mormon beliefs. Americans are largely ignorant of Mormon beliefs, and seem to revel in their ignorance, so Romney doesn't stand a chance. Look at how long it took a follower of Catholicism–a much more main-stream religion–to get elected due to such (ignorance-based) distrust.
There are some posts on here from folks who are "LDS"; you have the right to practice your religion, no matter how looney. You do not have the right to stop people like me from making fun of what is inarguably a cult, based on worship of a guy who was undeniably psychotic (Joseph Smith). The mormon church is whacked and that's about all there is to that.
You are free to say whatever you want, no matter how untrue. However, your comment is false. Mormons do not worship Joseph Smith, but they do revere him as a prophet, similar to Moses. Mormons worship Jesus. You can deride the religion as a cult if you want to, but you obviously don't know enough to have an informed opinion.
Personally I do not have any problems with people who are Mormon, but I would question having one as our national leader. It is well known that the Mormon church believes that they are the only path and that all other churches are wrong. I do not want this country to become a theocracy with a Mormon president forcing everyone else to convert. Their primary goal is to convert all other religions and they might enforce it if they control the man in the White House.
So is almost every other religion. I've been told I'm going to Hell many times, and none of them were Mormon.
"It is well known that the Mormon church believes that they are the (only path and that all other churches are wrong)."
And other's are really different, how exactly...?
Peace...
Peace2All
"It is well known that the Mormon church believes that they are the (only path and that all other churches are wrong)."
And other's are really different, how exactly...?
Peace...
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They have this in common:
.
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that makes it difficult to tell the difference between real and unreal experiences, to think logically, to have normal emotional responses, and to behave normally in social situations.
As the illness continues, psychotic symptoms develop:
• False beliefs or thoughts that are not based in reality (delusions)
• Hearing, seeing, or feeling things that are not there (hallucinations)
@Artist
Yep.
Peace...
@Artist- I didn't know you had a medical degree to diagnose Schizophrenia. Or is it that you are making a guess about a vast amount of ppl and condemning them all. Wait! You sound like the stereotypical Christian you speak out against