Mormons and White Evangelicals Might Not Be So Different After All
Take a look at our new research note, documenting the political parallels between Mormons and white evangelical Protestants. The findings may be surprising, given recent speculation about whether white evangelicals will support Romney. Nevertheless, it seems likely that if white evangelical voters can see past theological doubts about whether Mormonism is a Christian faith, they will find that they have many political values in common with Mormons. For example:
On social issues like abortion and same-sex marriage, white evangelical Protestants and Mormons are significantly more conservative than the general public, and report similar levels of opposition. While a majority (54%) of the general public believes that abortion should be legal in all or most cases, less than one-third of white evangelicals (29%) and Mormons (24%) agree. Roughly two-thirds of white evangelicals (67%) and Mormons (68%) believe abortion should be illegal in all or most cases. On the issue of same-sex marriage, the two groups hold identical views with three-quarters reporting that they oppose allowing gay and lesbian people to marry legally.
Dr. Robert P. Jones wrote about this for the Washington Post way back in February, and his conclusion is no less true now than it was then: “the Evangelical-Mormon question for 2012 will be whether the theological differences and ‘bloody blows’ – or the pragmatism of political ‘blood brothers’ – governs this emerging relationship.”