Putnam and Campbell in WSJ on Mitt’s Mormon Challenge

October 21, 2011
By tomsander

Flickr photo by lachicaphoto

Excerpt of Op-Ed by American Grace co-authors David Campbell and Robert Putnam:

“From Broadway to the Beltway, this is the Mormon moment. On stage, The Book of Mormon: The Musical is a wildly popular satire, and on television we regularly hear doubts about the viability of Mormon candidates for the presidency. Our attention is usually on those who view Mormons warily—especially evangelical Christians like Pastor Robert Jeffress, who recently declared Mormonism a cult. But it’s also informative to examine which Americans like Mormons. The answer suggests that a Mormon politician like Mitt Romney may not face an impenetrable stained-glass ceiling after all.

“We asked a nationally representative sample of Americans how they feel toward different religious groups. We found that Americans give most religions a positive rating, but Mormons are an exception. They earn relatively low ratings, below evangelical Christians, Catholics and Jews (though ahead of atheists and Muslims).

“But Mormons aren’t viewed negatively by everyone, and the religious group that gives them the highest rating of all may come as a surprise—Jews….”

Read “Pinpointing Romney’s Mormon Challenge” (WSJ)

Share

Post to Twitter

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.