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S U N S T O N E
WILL ROMNEY’S FAITH HURT
HIS PRESIDENTIAL BID?
WHILE MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR MITT ROMNEY
continues to prepare for a likely run for the White House in
2008, polls suggest that American voters are not ready for a
Mormon president. A recent national poll indicated that 37
percent of Americans would not vote for a Mormon presidential
candidate; a South Carolina poll concluded that 44 percent
of people in that state still believe that Mormons practice
polygamy and that 27 percent believe LDS Church members
worship Joseph Smith.
In an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune, Romney said he
doesn’t believe religion is a factor “when people know the real
individual.” Some observers are comparing Romney to John F.
Kennedy, who had to fight anti-Catholic sentiment in order to
win the presidency. In a September 1960 Roper poll, 35 percent
of respondents said either that it might be better not to
have a Catholic president or that they would be against it.
Following the poll’s release, then-senator Kennedy gave a
speech calculated to defuse the question of his religion, and he
was elected president two months later.
“I believe in an America where the separation of church and
state is absolute,” Kennedy said during his 1960 campaign,
“where no Catholic prelate would tell the President—should
he be a Catholic—how to act, and no Protestant minister
would tell his parishioners for whom to vote; where no church
or church school is granted any public funds or political preference,
and where no man is denied public office merely because
his religion differs from the president who might appoint
him, or the people who might elect him.”
Asked by The Salt Lake Tribune whether he might have to
make a similar clarification, Romney said, “There may well be
a time when something is said by me or something happens
that crystallizes the issue for people, but I believe the people in
this country subscribe to the Lincoln view that when people
take the oath of office they abide by America’s political religion
and that they place the Constitution and the rule of law first.”
The published Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll that indicated
37 percent of Americans would not vote for a Mormon
presidential candidate also showed that 10 percent said they
would not vote for a Catholic, 15 percent would not vote for a
Jew, and 21 percent would not vote for an evangelical
Christian. Muslims fared worse than Mormons, with 54 percent
of voters saying they wouldn’t vote for a Muslim.
Following the poll’s release, some evangelical groups immediately
came forward to say that they would vote for
Romney—Mormonism and all. “The 2008 election is for president,
not pastor,” explains the website www.Evangelicals-
ForMitt.org. “We would never advocate that the Governor become
our pastor or lead our churches—we disagree with him
profoundly on theological issues. But we reject the notion that
the president of the United States has to be in perfect harmony
with our religious doctrine.”
UPDATE
The Rev. Ted Haggard,
president of the National
Association of Evangelicals,
believes that evangelicals are
ready to vote for competent
candidates—not along religious
lines. “We rejected an
evangelical [Harriet Meyers]
for the Supreme Court and
accepted a Catholic [Samuel
Alito],” observed Haggard.
At a time when Warren
Jeffs and other Mormon fundamentalists
give polygamy a
bad name, Romney carries a
Can Mitt convince voters he’d be
president first, Mormon second?
family burden that could also hurt him: his great-grandfather,
Miles Parker Romney, fled to Mexico so he could continue
having five wives. Asked about Romney’s position on
polygamy, his spokesperson, Eric Fehrnstrom, issued a twoline
response: “Governor Romney has been married to the
same woman for 37 years, and they’ve raised five children and
ten grandchildren. As far as the history of the Mormon church
goes, I would refer you to the historians.”
“The last thing Mitt Romney wants to be is the Mormon
candidate,” LDS filmmaker Mitch Davis told The Salt Lake
Tribune, “but inevitably the issue has to be addressed. . . If I believed
what most Americans do about Mormons, I couldn’t
vote for a Mormon either.” Davis, who directed The Other Side
of Heaven, wants to make a $1 million documentary about the
Massachusetts governor and has already launched
RunMittRun.org, a visually lavish website specifically designed
to boost Romney’s candidacy. “Could a Mormon be a Grammy
winner?” asks the introductory slide over a picture of Gladys
Knight. “Could a Mormon be a quarterback?” asks the second
slide over a picture of Steve Young. “Could a Mormon be a
movie star?” asks the third slide over an image of Napoleon
Dynamite’s John Heder.
But Davis’s attempt to convince voters that Romney’s
Mormon faith is a good thing could backfire, as Davis ends up
openly criticizing other faiths—“evangelical Christians who
have been taught that Mormonism is a cult.” “Mormons are enthusiastic
about their faith and seek converts wherever they
can,” the website explains. “In so doing, they make enemies,
particularly among the ministers of competing religions who,
whether for doctrinal or financial reasons, try to protect their
flock from interlopers.”
Ultimately, Davis’s initiative may do more to help raise funds
for Romney’s campaign among Mormons than to dispel misconceptions
about Mormonism—not a bad thing, considering
how much Romney will depend on Mormon donors to finance
his campaign. According to a Deseret Morning News story published
last June, Utah donations account for nearly 45 percent
of the $1.6 million raised so far for a Romney campaign, and
that money is being spent almost entirely out of state.
WWW.SLATE.COM
SEPTEMBER 2006 PAGE 73