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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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No gracias, give us Palin! Or better, Mitt run as her wingman.
Lol Palin as president.
or not of
who cares? why is religion even a matter of involved?? I want more separation of church & state in politicians, it's sad that there are articles like this..just pick the best politician you think can run our country
IT MATTERS...what people believe to be true says a lot about their ablity to rationalize and understand the world. I would prefer someone that doesnt think humanity started in the U.S. midwest. We have factual evidence that it started in Africa roughly 150,000 years ago. Same with Huckabee thinking the world is 6,000 years old. I dont want a president that ignores science when it suites his spiritual beliefs.
Have you ever read about what Mormons actually believe? Their beliefs are widely and demonstrably false. You may think Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Catholic, and Protestant doctrines are crazy, but just try and disprove the virgin birth over 2000 years ago. Mormonism is a 19th century religion, all relatively new, but its doctrines are replete with claims that are not only false, but destroy the entire foundation of their church and the claims of past prophets.
Check out:
http://www.ExposeRomney.com
What is the difference between a Muslim and a Morman. First lets talk about the similarities. They both allow multiple wives. They both believe in dying for the religion. They both have been persecuted by governments and their own people in modern times. They both have a founding leader buried in the ground. They both require a pilgrimage to central holy location on Earth once in the life of the worshiper. They both believe that Christ did exist as a holy man and a prophet. They both believe in keeping their faith in the family and not making friends of any non believers including family members who are non believers. They both essentially worship men who are buried in locations designated as holy places. They both require a man and woman complete a rite of passage at puberty in which their faith is affirmed and their place in the kingdom of god is established. They both believe that a strict diet is necessary in order to make the body presentable to service to their deity.
It's 2011 and people still spread the lie that Mormons have multiple wives...
Oh and Italians are pretty much just lighter skin blacks right?
Seriously people, how old are you? Do any of you research before you post?
That's a lot of words for someone who is woefully lacking in knowledge about both religions, Rick. Back to the books for you.
Very true. No difference.
Mormons haven't allowed multiple wives for over a century, as far as dying for the religion, I think everyone believes its honorable to die for a good cause, but thats a completely different idea from terrorism, which is what I think you are suggesting. I don't get the significance of your point that Joseph Smith is dead, yeah, he was born over 200 years ago, of course he is dead. There is no required pilgramige in Mormonism as there is in Islam. I don't know where you heard that. Mormons believe as Joseph Smith taught, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Savior of mankind. We believe that he created the universe through the direction of His Father. He was born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem, lived a perfect life, established his church under the authority of 12 apostles, then suffered and died for the sins of each and every person who has ever been born, and who will ever be born. I don't know how you could come to think that a church that is named after Jesus Christ does not worship him. We totally have friends who are not of our faith! I am a lifelong Mormon, and I grew up in the south. I have many many friends, Evangelical Christians, Catholics, Atheists, what have you. We strongly believe in the family, and to cut off a relationship due to disagreement in religion would be a shame. It is true that Mormons worship a man who was buried in a holy place, but he was ressurected nearly 2000 years ago. I have know idea what "right of passage at puberty" you are talking about. There is no such thing in Mormonism. Get your facts right first, then you can distort them as much as you please.
Mormons have not allowed multiple wives for over a century, as far as dying for the religion, I think everyone believes its honorable to die for a good cause, but thats a completely different idea from terrorism, which is what I think you are suggesting. I don't get the significance of your point that Joseph Smith is dead, yeah, he was born over 200 years ago, of course he is dead. There is no required pilgramige in Mormonism as there is in Islam. I don't know where you heard that. Mormons believe as Joseph Smith taught, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Savior of mankind. We believe that he created the universe through the direction of His Father. He was born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem, lived a perfect life, established his church under the authority of 12 apostles, then suffered and died for the sins of each and every person who has ever been born, and who will ever be born. I don't know how you could come to think that a church that is named after Jesus Christ does not worship him. We totally have friends who are not of our faith! I am a lifelong Mormon, and I grew up in the south. I have many many friends, Evangelical Christians, Catholics, Atheists, what have you. We strongly believe in the family, and to cut off a relationship due to disagreement in religion would be a shame. It is true that Mormons worship a man who was buried in a holy place, but he was ressurected nearly 2000 years ago. I have know idea what "right of passage at puberty" you are talking about. There is no such thing in Mormonism. Get your facts right first, then you can distort them as much as you please.
Rick: I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sometimes referred to as "Mormons". I would like to correct some of the inaccuracies that you have stated about my church.
We do not allow multiple wives. There are a lot of things I would give my life for, including my family, friends, country, and yes my religion – I think we call that loyalty, and a conviction that what we believe matters.
I'm not sure what you're getting at with the "founding leader buried in the ground" comment – any religion older than 100 years probably has one too.
I am not required to make any kind of pilgrimage. I believe that Christ is the literal son of our Heavenly Father, is Jehovah of the Old Testament, and accomplished the atonement that saves us from sin, and that He was resurrected. I believe he is much more than just a prophet.
I have friends of many faiths, including many christian denominations, jews, muslims, hindus, and athiests. I believe that Christ would have us be friends of everyone (as in "love thy neighbor as thyself").
I worship no man – only God the Father, and His Son Jesus Christ.
If by "rite of passage at puberty" you mean baptism, then yes, but that is fairly common in Christian religions. Otherwise I have no idea what you are referring to.
Our code of health is called "The Word of Wisdom" and proscribes alcohol, tobacco, and other harmful substances, and recommends eating healthy foods. We believe that by following this counsel we will be blessed with knowledge, health (that should be obvious), and spirituality.
As a presidential candidate, I think it is important that the candidate have ideals that I can support, that he (or she) be someone who I have confidence in as a leader, and will make wise decisions. I believe Mitt meets those qualifications.
They both allow multiple wives. – false
They both have a founding leader buried in the ground. – Where else would they be buried?
They both require a pilgrimage to central holy location on Earth once in the life of the worshiper. – False
They both believe in keeping their faith in the family and not making friends of any non believers including family members who are non believers. – False. I have more nonmember friends than member friends by quite a lot
They both believe that a strict diet is necessary in order to make the body presentable to service to their deity. – No.
You are one of the most ignorant people I've come across-maybe even delusional. You really should do some research before posting such nonsense.
Why do people in the media make such a big deal out of trivial crap like this? You guys always lecture everyone about tolerance and diversity but are the first to identify everyone by religion, race etc. If that guy gets elected (a long shot) I will respect the office of the president regardless what color, gender, religion etc. This same nonsense was debated in 1960 when JFK became the first Catholic president.
What is it with you people with believing there is only one right answer to everything. There is always more then one right answer. WHO cares if he is a MORMON. Have any of OUR CHRISTIAN presidents done anything useful, take Obama for instance? Quit being so scared of a different man. BTW God is an imaginary friend for Grown ups and if that is the reason people don't get elected then that is pathetic.
So, Christians are wrong for believing that the "one right answer for everything" is that there is a God, but your "one right answer for everything", that a belief in God is childish, is somehow acceptable? Wow, you've got it all figured out dont' you? You must be way more intelligent than any Christian who ever lived. Keep telling yourself that. There is nothing wrong with being an atheist, you can have your own opinion, but there is something seriously wrong with being so arrogant that you belittle anyone who differs from your own opinion.
Mormons do not accept a separation between church and state, so to the thinking American this should be a no-brainer. Do not elect a Mormon, no matter how great the work ethic, the personal care, etc.
I agree. Try being a non-Mormon doing business in Utah or Idaho...good luck with that. Creepy religion with some very odd beliefs and way too much into mixing church and state for my tastes. Plus they have magic underwear.
This man lost once before he needs to sit down and shut up. Where is the real leader. The one who can make everyone in the country happy all at the same time the religious the gays the rednecks and the rich and everyone else. I want someone who on his first day fixes every social injustice, every financial issue and at the same time is a moral cornerstone if society with a perfect record well guess what all you idiots he does not exist without a dictatorship what is the matter with you people no one can fix this mess with our current political system.
If Lincoln had followed your advice, there would still be slavery. So what if Mitt lost once, Lincoln lost 11 times. Give me someone who perseveres in spite of the knockdowns. Get up and go for your dream. More power to him. He has a dream and an ideal. It's more than can be said for a majority of the country!
No the USA isn't ready for a Mormon president because as displayed in these comments, 90% of the population are hypocritical bigots. Whatever happened to love and understanding? People claim Mormons aren't Christians but they don't hold themselves to any rules or values.
How about judging a person by their merits instead of what they believe in their religion? Every religion has their beliefs and traditions so why are people so quick to judge?
Who cares if they are Jew, Baptist, Catholic, Muslim or Mormon? If we can't accept anyone in office, we haven't learned a thing since this country was founded...
Since my last post was Waiting for moderation for whatever reason. I agree with your point People are putting Religion before experience.
It's amazing that people preach love and tolerance when it's convenient.. yet when it comes to religion and especially Mormons, it's instant judgment and false accusations.
I am part of a Christian organization and I'd support ANY good candidate be it Jew, Mormon, Baptist, Catholic OR Atheist!
Mormon for President, don't think so. Sister Wives is nothing more than Mormon Polygamy. Suppose to be illegal, but not for the Mormons. No, we've already had our share of idiots in the White House. No more strangeness there. We have a dysfunctional Congress. We don't need Mormons in the White House.
Mormons don't support polygamy.. so do some research before you post blind ignorance...
We as a nation need to CHILL out.
Mormon's haven't practived polygamy for over a century.
I am a Christian, but those of the Mormon faith that I call friends are good people. As a society, they take care of each other, are of high moral values, very community business minded, tend to have healthy lifestyles. As long as a Mormon president and staff respected monogamy in traditional marriage, through actions and executive decisions respected freedom of religion, and importantly improves the US economy and job growth,voters may vote with their pocketbook. If the US populace can accept his saying Morman prayers publicly and attending the Mormon church in the true spirit of religions freedom, Mitt running for POTUS will be interesting.
Nope. Romney isn't "christian" enough for the religious right.
Says you.
More concerned about our Kenyan President's Hamas-supporing, Islamic tendencies than Romney's Mormonism.
I'm still waiting on an atheist presidential candidate... not only would I vote for him or her, I'd campaign for them as well. I'm sick and tired of our 'representatives' believing in a cosmic jewish zombie who was his own father that can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree.
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And on top of that, mormons believe in 'magic' underwear. Look it up, strange but true.
K, I've been a Mormon my whole life and there is no "magic" underwear. If there was I'd have been all over that! Man, I wish we had magic underwear, how cool would that be? Anyway, you can make anything sound stupid if you word it that way. I'd guess you are a pro at saying things that sound stupid.
I would love to see the day when someone without any religion can run for president.
I agree! That would be great...a secular HUMANIST president. If only...
The question would have been....Is Ameriaca ready to practice a higher degree of moral standards?
THe hell with moral standards the REAL question is Human ready to evolves to a higher level of Conciseness.
Joe-
Is ' conciseness ' a branch of Buddhism ???????
Respectfully....all of you who are throwing out the "anti-mormon" talking points, please consider how dishonest, insincere and unhelpful that is. Mormons have distinctly different views on many Christian beliefs....that is certain. But to mischaracterize them, take them out context, use hot bottons is disengenuous and intellectually dishonest. You may feel Mormonism is a farce....You are free to have that opinion, but a thoughtful discussion is much more helpful and honest. Please consider whether you "bear false witness" by your tone, what you don't say in addition to what you do say
Dave, it's no use.
Lol yeah, CNN is not the place to reason with people. A majority of the ignorant comments are made by people who have permanently turned away from using reason.
Please, Please!! some one in the Press ask Romney if he believes it's possible that after death, and you've been a perfect Morman, you will become a God and be issued your own planet!!!!
For one, its spelled M-O-R-M-O-N. Spelling aside, yeah, it sounds stupid if you say it in a stupid way. You can make anything sound stupid. Mormons beleive that we, with Christ will inherit all the Father has, as it says in the Bible, we will be "joint heirs with Christ", that doesn't mean we will subvert God as the ultimate authority, it simply means we will share in his glory. You will never hear from an LDS pulpit that we will "be issued our own planet"
Hyuck Hyuck. That Obama sure is a Muslim. Oh wait, ur tryin to tell me that he's not? You have proof? No thanks! Hyuck hyuck. I ain't gonna listen. He's Muslim and you ain't gonna change my mind no matter what! Hyuck Hyuck Hyuck
Gee whiz I wish I wouldn't have dropped out of school in 9th grade
We can regard him as President the moment he files his candidacy.