MORMON VOTERS MAY BE CRITICAL IN ARIZONA
Some back Biden, possibly tipping state to Democrat
TUCSON
For the better part of a century, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have made their political home under the Republican Party’s tent, motivated by conservative beliefs rooted in the family values, personal liberty and economic frugality of their faith.
But some church members now find themselves in a political quandary: They’re still Republicans, but they no longer fit in with the party as exemplified by President Donald Trump, who for them represents a hard departure from the church’s teachings on sex, crude language, empathy and humility.
In Arizona — the only state up for grabs that has a significant Latter-day Saint population — a growing number are finding refuge in Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee.
“I think the White House should be worried about LDS voters, especially in Arizona,” said Quin Monson, a Utahbased pollster, political scientist and author of a book about the politics of the religion.
Most church members are still likely to support the president again this year, Monson said, noting that party loyalty is ingrained in the religion. They agree with Trump more
than they disagree with him, and for many, the issue of abortion is a litmus test that few Democratic candidates can pass.
Still, exit polling from 2016 showed 56 percent of church members supported Trump, far less than the support he received from members of other faiths. Trump, for instance, won almost 80 percent of the White evangelical Christian vote.
Even a small shift in Latter-day Saints’ voting patterns could have a large impact in Arizona. There are about 437,000 members of the faith in the state, though that number includes children; Trump won by just 91,000 votes in 2016. With well-educated suburbanites already moving away from the president, the race is expected to be considerably closer this year.
Despite their reservations about Trump in 2016, members of the faith largely fell
into familiar voting patterns, supporting Trump or begrudgingly casting their votes for a third-party candidate.
But Biden doesn’t cause the same reluctance among some Latter-day Saints that Hillary Clinton did. They like his temperament and personality, arguing that the warmth and empathy he displays much more closely mirrors the behaviors that the church demands of its followers than Trump’s grating style.
Rob Taber, head of the LDS Democrats of America, has been courting Latter-day Saints for the Democratic Party since 2012, when Mitt Romney, perhaps the world’s most famous church member, was the Republican nominee.
He said his job had become considerably easier in recent years.
He said he understands how isolating it can be for church members who don’t support the Republican nominee, and he is trying to create “a home for the politically homeless” in the Biden campaign.
“We like to say converts are welcome,” he said. “But this election, visitors are welcome.”
Four years ago, Dan Barker, a retired state court of appeals judge and a Republican, couldn’t bring himself to support Trump, who he said was not capable of the kind of moral leadership that he wanted in a president. For the same reason, he couldn’t support Clinton. Instead, he wrote in Romney on his ballot.
“This year is different for two reasons,” he said. “I have stronger feelings about what would happen to our country with four more years of our current president, and Joe Biden is not Hillary Clinton.”
He and his wife, Nan Barker, also a Republican, decided to put a sign for the Democrat in their yard this year, but they didn’t want people to think they had abandoned the Republican Party. So they printed signs that said “Arizona Republicans for Biden” that they could give to friends.
Dan Barker said he was not trying to persuade fellow members of the faith to join their cause; he was trying to embolden them to do what he believed many already wanted to do.
“We’re saying you’re not alone,” he said.