Poll: Most Mormons back GOP, but fewer support Trump

About two-thirds of Mormon voters nationwide favored Republicans in the midterm elections, but President Donald Trump’s approval rating among members of the faith lagged behind, according to a nationwide survey of midterm voters.

And as Republican Sen. Mitt Romney prepares to join the new Congress in January, most voters in the predominantly Mormon state of Utah — 64 percent — would like to see the senator confront the president, AP VoteCast found. About half of Romney’s supporters — including his Mormon supporters — said they would like to see the former Massachusetts governor stand up to Trump, while about as many indicated the senator should support Trump if elected.

The new data reaffirms Trump’s struggle to gain widespread acceptance among Mormons despite the faith’s deep-rooted conservative leanings.

Voters of other religious faiths such as evangelical Christians and Catholics are more consistent in their ratings of the president and vote choice.

That’s not the case with Mormons: 67 percent voted for Republicans, but 56 percent said they approve of the way Trump is handling his job as president. That’s according to an analysis of 1,528 Mormon voters based on data from VoteCast, a survey of more than 115,000 voters nationwide conducted for The Associated Press by NORC at the University of Chicago. The data offers an unusual level of detail about the decisions of a sometimes misunderstood religion.