That's according to a new report from Pew, released today and based on data from the group's 2007 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey.
More Mormons (60 percent) identify themselves as conservatives than any other religious group; they also lead every other group in GOP party identification (at 65 percent)--much higher than the general population in both categories. Here are a few of Pew's charts to break it down:
Keep in mind that GOP identification is very low right now--only 35 percent of the general population identify themselves as Republicans--making the Mormon numbers even higher by comparison. Evangelicals, for instance--a group that has, for the past decade, been counted as an influential Republican voting bloc--identify with the GOP at a 50 percent rate, a full 15 percent lower than Mormons.
The only group that's more partisan is members of historically black churches, according to Pew, 77 percent of whom identify themselves as Democrats. (Though that's more of a racial subset of a religious category, than it is a religious category in its own right.)
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Mormons are much more socially conservative than both the general population and other groups: 70 percent say abortion should be illegal in all or most cases, compared to 42 percent of the general population and 35 percent for Evangelicals. 68 percent say homosexuality should be discouraged, rather than accepted--that's in line with evangelicals (64 percent) and Muslims (61 percent)--hence the LDS church's involvement in Prop. 8--but lower than the general population, 40 percent of which shares that opinion.
Mormons make up 1.7 percent of the nation; 35 percent of them live in Utah. In that regard, one could say they're overrepresented in the national political elite, as both Mitt Romney and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are Mormons. Numbers-wise, Mormons aren't a huge voting bloc--but, as we saw with Prop 8, they can be politically powerful: supporters of the gay marriage ban estimated in October that Mormons had donated 30 to 40 percent of the $25.5 million raised to back it; Advocate.com estimated that figure at 77 percent.
i dont appreciate mormans coming to my house and trying what to convert me. what disrespect to my religion! i should not have to have a sign for you (mormons)to stay away.
I don't appreciate you calling Mormons, "mormans" ;). I'm trying to see how sharing their beliefs is disrespectful. Was it not Christ who said something to the effect of, "go ye all into the World and preach my Gospel"? It seems to me that a religion like the LDS Church who claim to have the Gospel would also need to obey the words of Christ by preaching it to even you my friend.
Mormons? I would have thought that the most conservative religious group would be the Anabaptist (Amish, Mennonite, Old German Baptist). Many congregations are pretty much stuck in the 18th century, you don't get more conservative than that. But I guess since those guys mind their own business and aren't trying to have anybody else live by their rules, they don't count.
It's hard to poll people who don't have phones.
1.I doubt that Muslim population is more liberal than catholic population.
2.The reason for this kind of result I because Mormons don't ashamed of saying they are conservative, a large percent of the people who that say they are liberal are acutely conservative and hide this.
re roymondo:
Preaching on a street corner, to anyone who wants to stop and listen, is one thing. A door-to-door religious campaign is another. My home is my escape and my nest. A religious sales pitch, no matter how well intended, is NOT welcomed.
I admit I'm being pedantic, but don't practicing Amish not vote? That would automatically eliminate them from this conservative survey, no?
JAD1973,
You probably are right. I was just trying to point out the hijacking of the word "conservative". I used to mean "reluctant or distrustful to change" and now it means agreeing with Rush Limbaugh and hating everybody that doesn't like the same thing that you do.
This has got to be one of the least informative article I've read in a long time. Mormons are really, really conservative, you don't say.
Well, if conservatives are comfortable welcoming into their fold people who are happy to believe:
1) That a new testament of Christ was happened upon by a farmer in upstate New York and that
2) Said farmer also found translation stones at the same time that helped him translate said testament and that
3) Immediately upon completing the translation, the tablets and translation stones disapeared and that
4) Belief in this story depends solely and wholely upon the testamony of this farmer....
Then I guess that is their business. I actually find it rather amusing that conservative Christians, who have maligned Mormonism as a dangerous cult for the last 100 years, suddenly find themselves putting this opinion aside for purely political reasons.
Most of all never forget: Glenn Beck is a Mormon. Do you think he is dealing with reality?
Perhaps it's a moot point--by #3, the story is already quite hard to believe--but #4 isn't exactly right: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Witnesses
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Witnesses
"42 percent of the general population and 35 percent [of] Evangelicals [say abortion should be illegal in all or most cases]." Is that backwards?
"68 percent say homosexuality should be discouraged, rather than accepted--that's in line with evangelicals (64 percent) and Muslims (61 percent)--hence the LDS church's involvement in Prop. 8--but lower than the general population, 40 percent of which shares that opinion."
Behold the perils of too many parenthetical references. 68 percent is more than the general population (40 percent), not less.