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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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Gawd. Another politician who believes in fairy tales. Would anyone vote for a leader who takes commands or hear voices from Thor, Santa, Zeus? Thought not.
yap, and obama's a muslim
don't forget gay and black.
and a commie socialist terrorist
And you never saw Obama and Cheney in one place at the same time! Just sayin'!
Nope, just from Jeremiah "God Damn America" Wright.
"Is America Ready For A Mormon President?" Leave it to CNN to pose such a bigoted question on it's front page. Well, I don't know... let's see... considering that America (and CERTAINLY the mainstream media) was ready for a Muslim president, I don't see why not.
how's it feel to be so dumb??? I suppose you dirve a really BIG truck with really BIG wheels...the kinda guy I see on the road and YELL thru the window to...'COMPENSATE MUCH?!!!!!!"
You sir are an idiot.
LOL
Does this mean I have to go on a mission and not drink soda pop?
better get your bicycle tuned up
Mormons believe that God was once a man who became a God and is made of flesh and bones. They also believe that they will become their own God someday and rule over their own planet. You have to seriously question their judgement and thats why most Americans would not want a Mormon president. And Mormons call themselves Christian BUT they reject all the major Christian beliefs that have been around for 2000 years. They only call themselves Christians in hope that Christians will accept them .. If any Mormon wants to go to a Christian church , all of their friends , family and the LDS Church reject them and shun them, They isolate them in hopes that the pressure and isolation will drive the person back to the LDS church.
Which is more ludicrous than Christianity, Judaism, Islam, etc. how exactly? Oh, someone saw a burning bush while wandering in the desert... I mean, an angel came and told a prophet the proper way to divorce your wife, including how much time must pass from her last period... no, I mean someone brought the dead back to life and healed the sick. Sorry, did you think that last one was Jesus, because I meant Asclepius obviously, since the Greeks had that character well before the Jews.
Yeah, those crazy Mormons, who would believe anything that wacky, huh? If this nut can at least open a debate on the role of any fantasy-world beliefs on our leaders, his candidacy is already worthwhile.
Hissss! Hisssss! Libs spewing their venom again.
Unlike the venom of the far right? Oh, at least venom that is backed up by fantasy figures and voices telling them what to do. Fantastic.
Focus on the man's actions and morals, not minute doctrinal questions! He has some legitimate apparent flip flops that we should question. Stop focusing on scriptural interpretations
Yes - ignore the man behind the curtain (Mormon President)
Don't the Mormons believe that non-whites and women of all stripes are "less than?" God doesn't like them as much as white men or something. Sounds like a problem to me.
"Sounds like a problem..." to you, but you don't even know the answer to the question you posed? Wow... that's real intelligent. You know what... whenever November comes around, stay home – don't go to the voting booth.
yeah, that would be bad. i'm looking for one that isn't funded by banksters.
Sounds to me like you're getting your facts from Keith Oberman and Jon Stewart. Ever investigate anything yourself, or are you just another Lemming ready to follow Katie Couric off a cliff? Sounds like a problem, to me.
Nope–I know for a fact that none of my Mormon friends believe that.
Let me set you straight. Mormons threaten kids as young as 16 that the will be "Hunted down and disemboweled" if they reveal the "Temple Secrets"
The only way a woman can enter heaven is if her HUSBAND calls her 'Temple' name.
If men are good boys, they get to have their own solar system and a bride who is perpetually pregnant and spawns human souls for eternity.
So, hell NO I don't want a whack job that believes that cr@p in the fricken White House. Why the heck would ANYONE!?
All orthodox Christian believe in a dead guy who was raised from the dead and will one day make other people raise from the dead. I'm not sure that Mormonism is really that extreme.
That's funny, no one ever threatened to hunt me down and disembowel me. You getting your info from Jon Stewart and Keith Obeman too?
No, from women who had Temple marriages and have since left the so-called church.
and please tell me Mr. Mormon, how EXACTLY does your wife get into your heaven, hhmmm? Or are you going to tell more lies?
Hahaha... yeah, because heaven is so real. How can religious people seriously debate each other at all? Open your eyes – you just have your own completely ludicrous fairy tales. At the very least you should respect the dementia of others as being equal to your own.
Who cares about Romney's religion? It's the economy stupid.
Because if he's already living in fantasy land, he's unlikely to suddenly get a grip on reality when it comes to the economy.
Though frankly, religious or not, the politicians are bought off by giant corps and special interests and aren't going to do anything to stop lining their own pockets at our expense. The past Democrats AND Republicans have been busy undermining our manufacturing base with the hollow promise of a strong 'service economy' and things like retraining everyone into bio-tech, while fully knowing that they are shipping the jobs that created much of the nations wealth overseas for short term profits for their wealthy friends. And THAT is not a fairy tale.
I would love not to factor in someone's religion when considering their candidacy. But the weird and cult-like aspects of mormonism - of which I am very well informed, thank you, it impossible for me to do so. If Romney is still a mormon, and has not logically confronted the silliness of his religion, then I do not want him as my commander in chief, the one who has the nuclear codes.
another AMEN!!!
.. and a praise Jesus
You're right on!
If you're a Christian, Jew, Muslim – or anything other than a straight up atheist or agnostic – then the hypocrisy is literally OOZING from your post. All religions are equally magical, equally unsupported by evidence, and thus equally silly.
Well said!
But religion isn't as magical as the iPad, because the iPad actually exists. Or maybe that makes people believing in religion even MORE magical! 🙂
atheist and agnostic don't believe in any of the fairy tails you blithering moron, so there is no hypocrisy.
oops - never minnnddd
@ John – yes, as an "agnostic" i think all religions are dubious and i can't understand how anybody can actually follow them. However, I find mormonism, of the major religions in america (ie not like a minor cult) to be particularly unbelievable and nutty. thus I am more concerned about a candidate who professes to be a true mormon than one who claims to be a protestant, even though I would prefer an out-and-out atheist above them all.
Okay CNN, where was "Is America Ready for BLACK President?"
You are an ID10T - you are born a race, you CHOOSE your religion.
sorry you missed it
True and very hypocritical of this author! Not even mentioning a certain persons past muslim upbringing to boot!!!
Really????? Were you alive during the last election?
Most people are brainwashed into their religion by their parents, as were their parents before them. Choose a religion... very rarely indeed.
At EdNv: So which race was Barack born? Or should I say, which one did he choose?
@WADE go back to your JBS/KKK rally - try reading the topic of this thread that you are replying to...
Come on, Mormonism isn't the problem. Mormons come in all shapes, sizes, and opinions just like any other group. I would absolutely vote for a Mormon candidate who was intelligent, articulate, knowledgeable, compassionate, shrewd, and unafraid to take unpopular stands in order to do what's right. Romney, unfortunately, is not that kind of candidate. None of the Republican candidates even come close. Obama is certainly not perfect, but he's far, far superior to anything the GOP has come up with so far.
NO! Mormonism is a cult - check it out in university reference books on cults
Uh, religions are cults. Check it out.
beat me to it. all religions are fairy tales.
But not Disney fairy tales, more like the original Germanic ones. "Don't question your religious leaders, or you'll: "
Fill in the blank with fun stuff like "Burn in hell for eternity", "Turn to a pillar of salt", "Be destroyed by plagues / have your first-born son killed by an Angel sent by your loving God", etc. etc. Good stuff. I mean, pretty sick, but hey, if you're going to pick strange things to believe, religion certainly delivers.
Can I just arbitrarily categorize who is Christian and who isn't? Sounds like a good gig the evangelicals have going. Mormons and evangelicals have many similarities (belief in Christ) and differences (Mormons tend to be highly educated and evangelicals tend to be uneducated southern hillbillies).
If you'd like to broaden the categorization, try delusional vs. non-delusional. Now put all religion into the delusional category. Well, all except for the specific strange beliefs of whoever may be reading this, because YOUR nonsense is the one TRUTH! (And don't you let anyone tell you different! Say, the world did end on May 24th already, right?)
umm according to that preacher - we were all judged on the 21st - but now we have to wait until Oct 21 before we a raptured.. ?backlog?
So if Mormons aren't Christians.. what else do they have to do to qualify? The CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST of Latter-Day Saints. They believe in the Bible. The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ.
It's like saying Democrats aren't politicians or Toyotas aren't cars...
They gave that name themselves, not because you call something a certain way it becomes true, unless you're a republican
At least regular old Christians have an excuse of sketchy historical records from 2000 years ago. Don't know anyone can actually believe a dude in the 1800s "found" some golden tablets in an non-existent language and said source tablets are conveniently not available because the angel took them back. If you can't evaluate evidence that Mormonism is ridiculous I can't really believe that you have sound skills when it comes to reason and evidence and the real world.
we now have our first gay muslim black president. why not a mormon president??
your a little off aren't you? but just in case you didn't know.....
people aren't born gay...but some are born to hate:) 🙂 🙂
Because a mormon president would be a mormon, btw who would be first lady, and second, and third..
If they all need their own plane....that would get expensive
Lies are not worth much.
haters gonna hate.
smalz, is that what you did..choose to be gay??
give me an atheist DAMIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Agree! Not biased by religion
Exactly. At least I could trust their skills when it comes to evaluating evidence.
Yeah... there are NO biased Atheists out there.. Gimmie a break
Actually we've probably had quite a few but they had to stay hush hush to get votes.
By what would they be biased if they're not part of any brain washing community. biased by good judgement
Wow.. this is not rocket science. I have several Atheist friends who instantly bash and judge anyone who is semi-religious.. Hypocrites much?
Obviously religion is not science since there's no logic. If only the real world worked like that – stare at a rock while proclaiming 'This rocket will only fly when you believe it can fly! You just don't have enough faith! Or maybe God is punishing us for something we've done wrong! Or we just can't understand how God thinks!'
Yadda yadda. Maybe you should think about what your atheist friends say instead of being insulted by it. Read whatever religious doctrine you have as though you are seeing it for the first time. No, really, now think about it. See any problems yet? Oh right, that's why it takes blind faith.
Want to see an Italian American first, like Penetta
I did not hear anyone asking "Is America ready for a black president?"
Where were you when that silly song played? Of Course that was said already. However a skin color is not "beliefs" it's simply biological dna combinations. Beliefs...are we're talking about here with the question of a Mormon President.