Tuesday, July 17, 2012
#5: Romney and Mormonism
Check out this article on Mitt Romney and a little bit about the history of Mormonism in the United States. Do you think Romney's religion will impact the political race significantly? Think about financial factors, peoples' perceptions of Mormonism, and the influence of religion on American politics in general. Do you think it will have more or less of an impact than Obama's race?
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How religion will affect a voter's decision will vary from person to person. Some will not be affected by the fact that Romney is a Mormon, while for others that may persuade or dissuade them to cast their vote in his direction. This will occur similarly with Mormon voters, however it is more likely their vote will either not be affected or pushed towards Romney because of a common faith and shared values. The many stereotypes that have been created of Mormons could put Romney in a bad light for some.
ReplyDeleteReligion has played somewhat of a factor in politics for decades. It was considered extremely unlikely that any person that was not Protestant would have a chance to become the next president for quite some time. JFK, being Catholic, during his run for presidency had this problem but still won the presidency. In the last election, Obama won even after the rumor was created that he was a Muslim, which was later refuted. Romney’s support from fellow Mormons may give him a boost in votes as well as campaign contributions in a similar way, if to a smaller degree, that Obama benefited from winning the African-American vote in 2008.
I agree with Kaylee's comment, stating that how religion affects the decisions of voters will vary. In my opinion I would say that voters who are less religious would not be as swayed by Romney's religion as people who use their religious beliefs to make their decision. I do believe though that the fact that Romney is Mormon will make a difference in whether he wins or not. Even though we have had presidents such as JFK who weren't Protestant, we still have not yet had a president that is of a religion that is as far from Christianity as Mormonism. This would be a big leap in history not only for the United States but also for the Mormon church itself. I think that if Romney can prove that religion shouldn't affect the decisions of voters, he might have a chance at the White House.
DeleteI agree with Kaylee as well. Religion could or could not be a factor in Presidential choice depending on exactly who's doing the voting. I thought that the article gave an interesting point towards the end, saying that it's shared values that draw Mormons to Romney rather than shared faith alone. I think that's a good way to look at any Presidential candidate, regardless of their religion, by asking what values they share and voting based on what you agree with, because that's how they're going to run the country; based on their values, not their religion.
DeleteAs far as the media's attention to Romney's religion goes, I think that it won't play as big of a part in the polls as it does in news coverage. Ultimately, the incessant ragging on candidates becomes like white noise to voters- I know it does to me- and it becomes easier to focus on the things the candidates say in more direct ways rather than getting the slightly twisted versions from the media. This was, as Kaylee said, the case during Obama's campaign in 2008. Eventually, coverage of rumors about his birth and nationality died down and people moved on to other things. So will be the case with Mitt Romney.
For me, personally, I don't really care about the religion of a presidential candidate. I care more about their ideas and what they're going to do for our country. However,most Americans do take religion into account when deciding who to support in the presidential race. I guess it depends on how concerned and committed a person is with his/her religion. Overall, Romney's religion will have a pretty significant impact in making him lose the presidential race compared to Obama. Yes, Obama is African American which, before 2008, had never been the race of a previous president, but there are WAY more African Americans and African American supporters in the United States than there are Mormons and Mormon supporters. Only 2% of the U.S. population is Mormon, while 14% of the U.S. population (as of the 2010 Census) is some combination of African American. It's probably also hard for Romney to get much financial support compared to Obama because of Romney's religious affiliation and not many people support Mormonism. More people will support the first African American president in U.S. history.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Millie that religion WILL impact the amount of supporters and votes that Romney will recieve in this years election. Many more people will judge Romney on being mormon, than people judge Obama for being African American. This article was very interesting to me, what stuck out a lot was the quote by Mr Marriott given on the second page of the article. This stood out because it seems like he and others were only supporting Romney emotionally and financially because they wanted popularity votes for their religion. I do think that religion plays a role when it comes to who to elect for president, but I don't believe that IF Romney were to win this election that Mormonism would become as popular as it seems Mr Marriott hopes. People will focus way more on what Romney is doing for this country than what his personal views on religion are. I don't think the concern about Romney's religion preference will go any farther than the election whether he gets elected as President or not.
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ReplyDeleteThe upcoming presidential election will not be affected significantly by Mr. Romney’s religion, especially at this stage. Romney has already been selected as the Republican presidential candidate, and I don’t think that registered Republicans are going to vote for Ron Paul or even Obama just because Romney is a Mormon. The fact that Romney is a Mormon did help him draw in some extra money and a little support from the Mormon community, but I don’t think that will help him significantly. I think Romney’s religion will have much less of an impact than Obama’s race considering, as Millie stated, 2% of the population is Mormon where as 14% is African-American. Despite that Obama has not performed to the expectations many voters had in 2008, I think the black community will still support Obama strongly in the upcoming election.
DeleteI think that if Romney’s religion was to have a significant impact on his presidential race, it would have been during the Republican primaries. The Republican primaries decide which candidate will be chosen, and voters who are very involved in this process would mostly likely consider his religion, views and beliefs more closely at this point than when selected to represent the Republican Party in the general election. This is why I think that the impact Romney’s religion makes will not even be close to the impact of party affiliation.
I disagree with Colin on his opinion that the presidential election won't be significantly effected by Romney's religion. Clearly it already has. It weakened him in the primaries because it prolonged the race, dragging out the attacks from other Republicans. Conservatives weren't ready to commit to a person that belonged to a religion that they didn't fully trust. They wanted the dream candidate, a protestant in shining armor. But that clearly didn't happen so they settled for Romney, all the while worrying that him and his religion would scare off many (ignorant) voters.
DeleteI also think Romney would do just fine without financial support from the Mormon community considering how much the rich tend to favor him.
Comparing African American Obama and Mormon Romney is what I consider an Apple's and Oranges scenario. It's not easily comparable because it's two entirely different things. Obama skin color is different while Romney believes in something different. I think in a modern, ,majority Christian country,the Mormon aspect could hurt Romney more. I believe this because of the population belonging to those demographics as well as the education gap between how much we know about African Americans and how much we know about Mormons. Ignorance is an unavoidable factor in politics.
Romney’s religion is definitely a factor that voters in the upcoming election will take in to consideration when deciding who they choose to lead our country for the next four years. The question, however; is will Romney’s religion, in this day and age, have a significant impact on the outcome of the presidential race? To that, I say an outstanding yes.
ReplyDeleteThe two biggest factors in each of the candidates background is that Obama is an African-American male and Romney is Mormon. If you strictly go into a number game there are 42 million African Americans in the U.S.A. compared to the roughly 6.1 million Mormons. Granted that not all of each group are registered voters, African-Americans still have a hefty advantage.
Americans overall perception of Mormons has never been good, starting with the persecution Mormons faced since the mid 1800's. Although our country is one of the most progressive and accepting, even in this day and age, some Americans will be scared to vote for him because of his religious background, fearing that he might try to influence politics too much with his Mormon beliefs.
I agree with those who stated that the presidential race will be affected by the religion of the running candidates. We would all like to say we are unprejudiced, objective people who would only judge a candidate on his ideas and actions, but one glance at our countries previous elections would prove this untrue. Protestant males had overwhelmingly been elected into the White House until JFK entered as the first Catholic president. When our current president was elected it showed how Americans can also deviate away from their racial voting norm. Because of the results of these elections and presidencies, it seems that Romney’s religion could either help or hurt him. First, according to the above article, Romney has already been a receiver of huge support from very large and old Mormon families. This could suggest that many Mormons will back a candidate of their same religion, giving Romney votes from Mormons across the United States. On the other hand, prejudice surrounding the Mormon faith could work against him, stealing away other votes his actions and ideas alone could have won. I also agree with Kaushik when he said that the bare numeric fact is that there are simply many more African American voters, who tend to support Obama, than there are Mormon voters, who could potentially support Romney. Although Obama may hold this advantage, his popularity has declined throughout his term, which could make this a close race.
ReplyDeleteOut of the 44 presidents our country has had, we have only had 1 non-Protestant president. This shows how much of a factor religion is in a presidential election. It was big deal when we had our first non-Protestant president, Catholic president JFK. Mormon beliefs seem to be thought of as further from Protestant beliefs than Catholic ones so electing a Mormon president would be more abnormal than electing a Catholic one. There is a large group of Mormon's voting for Romney but, as Millie and Kaushik said, there are overwhelmingly more African American voters than Mormon voters. Romney has become the Republican presidential nominee even though he is Mormon and, as the article says, has many strong Mormon supporters. However, Obama is Christian, a drastically more popular religion, and numbers show that the African American support of the last election could help him again. As Margaret said, this could be a close race.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all those who said that Romney's religion would have an impact on the presidential election. I'm not sure how much it will impact it but I believe it definitely will. If religion didn't matter at all there is no way we could have had, as Hope said, 43 out of 44 of our presidents be Christian. On the other hand Romney has already been chosen as the Republican candidate and I doubt many Republican voters would choose to vote for Obama over Romney regardless of his Mormonism.
ReplyDeleteAs far as all the donations Romney gets from the Mormon community, I don't think it will be any more donations than all the money Obama can raise especially because he is already president. As for having more of an impact than Obama's race I'd say it may have more of an impact negatively on Romney than race had on Obama because as Kaushik said there are significantly more African Americans in the US than there are Mormons. For that reason I don't think it will be a huge factor but that it definitely will be a factor.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with Colin, we are too far into the process of deciding who are next president will be for Romney’s religion to have a major negative impact.
ReplyDeleteFor the most part Romney’s ties to the Mormon Church have been positive. He has received extra money, and broadening support base due to the Churches interactions with other religious such as the Jews and Catholics. Romney’s religious could also have a negative impact but I don’t think it’s a large enough impact to really hurt his chances for getting elected. I think there are enough people out there who will support anyone but Obama not because his race but because of what he has and hasn’t done over the past four years in office. I don’t think Obama’s race really has a negative impact anymore, for the small population that would not reelect him based on his race there is probably double the amount of people who don’t care what his race is.
I seriously doubt that the fact that Mitt Romney is Mormon will have an impact on his presidential campaign. President Obama had a similar issue with made up rumors of him being a secret Muslim in the 2008 election, but remember that there were also rumors of him being an atheist. The Independent voters will not care about a candidate's religion as much as they will care about candidate's policies. In past elections the fact that Romney is not a Protestant Christian would have sent out political shock waves. In those same elections, it would have been even more inconceivable that a black man would be elected president. Republican party affiliation will help Romney overcome any prejudice against his religion once he is the official nominee.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Mitt Romney being Mormon will have a slight impact on his presidential campaign. It is hard to say exactly how much his religion will impact the political race. Like many have said, there are quite a few more African American voters than Mormon voters, so the fact that Mitt Romney has the support of a large group of Mormons does not significantly the number of people who will vote for Obama. Romney has used his Mormon background to gain financial support which he is using to his advantage. I do not think that this will have a big impact on Obama's race. As Moriah said, Romney is gaining his support from the Mormon community not because they share the same religion but because they share common values. If voters are stuck between both candidates and are looking at the pros and cons of both it may end up coming down to religion. Many voters know what candidate, from what party they are going to vote for, so I think that if religion does take on a role in the election it will be with the voters who are undecided.
ReplyDeleteNever in all of the presidential elections has there been a president elected who was not associated with a church. Most of them were Protestant but I believe the American people are more open-minded. Steven made a good point that in the past a Mormon would have never been elected but neither would an African American man. Times are changing and even though Romney is Mormon he also is getting huge amounts of contributions from Jewish and Catholic funds so it is clear that many different religions will support him. Republicans tend to be more conservative and they have already chosen him as their candidate. They obviously think that the religion won’t play a huge factor and that is why he was chosen. Kevin B. Rollins mentioned on the second page that “You don’t keep winning positions of leadership if you mess them up” and this is a fair statement. Romney is a good leader and Americans are looking for a change especially in the economy and Romney could provide that. I don’t think that religion will be the biggest factor in the upcoming election.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I feel that religion and government should be kept separate, like the author’s of the Constitution intended. An individual’s decision on who to vote for President should have to do with the person’s views and ideas of how to govern this country and how it fits with the voter’s views and ideas. A candidate’s religion ideally should not be a factor. Living in the South all my life, I realize that the leading religion in the South are conservative Christians whose political views are different than mine. The South in general tends to be more conservative but I sense that southern Christians who are strong in faith take religion into high account when deciding who to vote for. I feel that because Governor Romney easily won the Republican Primary and will be the Republican nominee for President, his religion did not matter to the Republican voters in the primaries though it was discussed by the press. And, I do not think that the fact Governor Romney is a Mormon will work against him in November and cause some Republicans to vote for President Obama instead. If Mormonism was an important factor it would be part of the political discussion now. However the impact of Gov. Romney being a Mormon raises an interesting question considering that numerous Republicans believe that President Obama is a Muslim. I do not believe an election between a Mormon or a Democrat will be a difficult decision for a southern conservative Republican. Therefore I believe political views will triumph difference of religion in this upcoming election.
ReplyDeleteI think that Mitt Romney’s religion will not play a major role in the outcome of the election, simply because the media has not emphasized the fact that Mitt Romney is a Mormon. When Obama ran for office, the media continually brought his race into conversation and it became the major story of the election. In this election, the media has not reiterated Romney’s religion and the biggest storylines are health care, education and the debt ceiling. In this election, more people will be voting based on what each candidate will do while in office, instead of on who each candidate is. Of course the importance of religion will vary from voter to voter, but I believe that Romney’s religion will be much less of a deciding factor than Obama’s race was a year ago.
ReplyDeleteI think that Mitt Romney’s religion will not play a major role in the outcome of the election, simply because the media has not emphasized the fact that Mitt Romney is a Mormon. When Obama ran for office, the media continually brought his race into conversation and it became the major story of the election. In this election, the media has not reiterated Romney’s religion and the biggest storylines are health care, education and the debt ceiling. In this election, more people will be voting based on what each candidate will do while in office, instead of on who each candidate is. Of course the importance of religion will vary from voter to voter, but I believe that Romney’s religion will be much less of a deciding factor than Obama’s race was a year ago.
ReplyDeleteI think that yes his religion will end up affecting his race, just because the Mormon faith isn't very common in the United States. Most people do not like the Mormon faith due to how it can be extreme in some cases. People don't like what they don't know very much about as well, and the average American doesn't know too much about the Mormon faith. Religion has always been a factor in presidential races, for example Obama's preacher was interviewed during last election. Seeing as it is such a big topic in this election, i think that it will help Obama out in the end, as some Americans base their votes solely on the ideology of the candidate.
ReplyDeleteRomney's mormon faith is one that I have no issues with. However, I think that he may lose some confidence nationwide if people do find out things about his religion. I don't really think it will affect whether he wins or loses the election. The ones usually most concerned about religion are the religious right-wingers. They were the ones who spread the "Obama is a muslim" lie. One of their own is now running for office, but he's a Mormon. I doubt this will be exploited by the Democrats any more than any other candidate.
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