Among the Bible Belt voters, the choice between the rich Mormon guy and the black “Muslim” guy is apparently not as easy as first thought.
What I find interesting about this is that there is any waffling at all amongst this demographic. While these folks are hardly going to defect to Obama in droves, Romney needs them to be fired up for him and it’s not happening. No wonder the GOP is cranking up the “secret Muslim” rhetoric - they desperately need to make him as toxic as possible to the Religious Right.
If the opening of the article is any indication, that won’t help them – even people who believe the “secret Muslim” nonsense are turning against Romney:
I’m not surprised by this. I learned in church growing up that Mormonism was a cult. That Mormons were nice people, but that they were misled. I’m not saying I necessarily believe that now, but just I remember being taught it, so I’m not surprised others believe it. It wasn’t a huge deal that was talked about often, but I remember that clearly.
Theoretically, many of those conservative voters should have no problem voting for a Mormon, since they should have many of the same beliefs. But I think there’s a sort of tribalism for some conservative churches, where anyone in the church is okay if they follow the rules, but anyone outside is not to be trusted completely.
It does surprise me the one woman quoted in the article who said she’d probably vote for Obama. I would think more of the conservatives who don’t trust Romney would just not vote, or maybe vote for Gary Johnson or some write-in candidate.
That’s not terrible, but that’s not great. Further down the article, it’s basically the same for Christians, with 80% of them saying they would vote for a well-qualified Mormon, and 17% saying they wouldn’t.
Most interesting to me was the chart at the end, showing when they asked people if they could identify what Romney’s religion was and compared that to if they would vote for a Mormon. For that, only 9% who knew Romney was Mormon said they would not vote for a Mormon, but 29% who did not know Romney’s religion said they would not vote for a Mormon. So if more people realize he’s a Mormon, then that’s more people who will not vote for him. That’s not a great sign for him.
Your cite does show that Repubs are in general more likely to vote for a Mormon than other groups, which is hardly surprising since Mormons are overwhelmingly GOP.
However, in your cite, 10% of Repubs say that they would not vote for a well-qualified Mormon for President.
Don’t you think it might turn out to be a problem if 10% of your base decides they can’t vote for you? Don’t you think that might affect the outcome of a election, if you happened to nominate a Mormon? We’ll leave aside the question of whether Romney is “well-qualified.”
Many of those distrustful of Romney’s faith probably also believe Obama to be a Muslim, which offends them even more. I would be surprised if they get put off by Romney’s wealth when for a generation they’ve been voting for candidates that favor the rich.
There are far too many stupid people out there than can possibly be discounted. The entire population is some degree of stupid. And we vote in large numbers.
Yes, stupidity and ignorance cannot not be discounted (and in some cases is relied on) in the voter base.
I can understand people not voting for Obama because of his positions on homosexuality and abortion even if I disagree with those people; those are his actual positions. It’s the people who think he’s a Muslim socialist giving out free stuff to black people that bother me more.
Rednecks have a long history of fighting the influence of the wealth in politics. From the rural farmers fighting the influence of wealthy urban industrialists to mine workers fighting the influence of large mining companies in Appalachia through unionization.
If they had a self idenitification box for “stupid” on the census, how many Americans do you think would have to check that box. If they had that box on voter registration forms, how many would have to check the box?
What is the typical margin of victory for a presidential election? What is it expected to be this time?
Yeah, the stupid vote counts, and both parties go after it. Its just that one party lines up better on the issues for the stupid vote than the Democtrats so that party gets the majority of the stupid vote.
