Romney’s Mormon Vote

MSNBC hints Mormon’s are the reason for Romney’s Nevada victory, touting exit polls showing nine out of ten Mormon Republican voters gave the nod to Romney. Furthermore, while Mormons comprise about 7% of Nevada’s population AP sponsored exit polls showed they made up one quarter of the Nevada Republican caucus. While significant, Romney’s 51% win – and 37% margin over the nearest competitor (Ron Paul!) shows Romney would have won if Mormons stayed home. This would also appear to be the case with the Wyoming caucus – 11% of the population there is Mormon but Romney got 67% of the total vote.

The fact that Mormons were “over represented” in the Nevada Republican party isn’t necessarily unusual. Being civic minded is a tenet of their religion, consequently Mormons have high turnout rates. Note also, that while Pasters of various denominations may use the pulpit to sway their flocks to one presidential candidate, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) maintains strict political neutrality. There are no Mormon bishop's (pastors) preaching Mitt Romney over the pulpit. Presumably, at least one Mormon voted in the Democrat caucus.

Mitt’s strong Western appeal is something the media can't ignore. McCain may wonder what that means for his home state of Arizona, where incidently the Mormon population of 6% is similiar to Nevada's.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Jan 20, 2008