Posted on 01/20/2012 10:53:12 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
GILBERT, S.C. — Lois Buffington shook her head when she talked about the evangelical Christians she knows who won't vote for Mitt Romney in Saturday's presidential primary here because he's a Mormon.
"That angers me, and I am a Southern Baptist from day one and will always be," said Buffington, a retired business owner from nearby Lexington who stood outside in the rain Friday to hear Romney speak on the final full day of campaigning before Saturday's primary vote.
"Mr. Romney is a Mormon because that's his belief and his choice. That's what America was built on, freedom of choice," she said. "If the rest of us had the morals the Mormon people have, we wouldn't have any problems."
New polls show Romney no longer leads the GOP field in South Carolina, thanks to a sudden surge in support for former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Romney's campaign is already shifting its focus to Florida's Jan. 31 primary.
Buffington, who supported Romney since his first bid for the White House in 2008, said she's "been preaching" to those who don't see Mormons as fellow Christians to put aside their concerns about his faith.
That's a tall order in South Carolina, she said, a state seen as the first real test in the presidential race of a candidate's ability to connect with the GOP's conservative base.
"I believe some of the people here are more bothered by Mr. Romney being a Mormon than Newt Gingrich having three wives," Buffington said.
Gingrich came out on top in a Clemson University poll released Friday, with the support of 36 percent of the likely voters surveyed Wednesday and Thursday compared to 24 percent for Romney.
Palmetto Family Council President Oran Smith said while the economy is the key issue this election for the evangelical voters his organization represents, Romney's religion remains enough of a concern that it could conceivably cost him the race.
"If it's extremely close between Romney and Gingrich, and you're getting down to hundreds of votes, sure, I think Romney's identification with the Mormon faith could make the difference," Smith said.
Still, Smith said, "While I think it's there and it's going to be there, I just don't think it's going to move a lot of votes. I don't think it's going to move tens of thousands of votes. It's going to be very random and not very powerful."
James Benson, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from Blythewood, said Romney's faith has come up "not nearly as much as I had expected and not as much as last time. He's paid his dues."
Benson, who was passing out bags of "Grits for Mitt" from a family mill at a recent Romney rally, said voters understand "if you elect a Mormon, you know what you're getting, like it or not."
Kris Vick, a retired first-grade teacher and former hospital chaplain from Spartanburg, said she was willing to overlook Romney's religion.
"If I could have the perfect candidate, I would prefer he would not be a Mormon, but that's OK," Vick said. "I realize they call themselves Christians."
She said ideally, the GOP nominee would be a fellow evangelical Christian, but added she believed "the role of the president is not to evangelize."
Sheryl Moureaux, a retired high school teacher from Eastover, said she has "lots of friends who have problems with Mormons" but doesn't feel she should judge Romney's beliefs.
"As long as he says he's a Christian, I believe him," Moureaux said. Other voters, though, may not be so willing, she said.
"I think there will be a group of people in this state that will be an issue for," Moureaux said. "Romney has such great family values … you think that would make a difference."
Mormons have been in South Carolina since the 1830s. Today nearly 37,000 LDS Church members live here and a temple was dedicated in Columbia in 1999.
University of South Carolina political science professor Robert Oldendick said he doesn't expect Romney's religion to hurt him at the polls.
"It doesn't help Romney, but it's really not, in my estimation, that much of a factor," Oldendick said, noting the voters who question his faith probably have already rejected him as too moderate.
Besides, Oldendick said, the economy is "dwarfing any religious issue" in a state with close to 10 percent unemployment.
I would vote for a mormon if he was a constitutionalist. I’d vote for someone of about any religion if he is a constitutionalist, who believes in freedom, who believes in defending the nation, and who is decent and moral in his private dealings.
My problem with Romney is the apparent fact that his principles are negotiable. Every politician, in fact everyone who deals in public life has to compromise on the practical application of principle but Romney seems prepared to deal on the principles themselves.
He strikes me as someone for whom the deal is more important than the principles involved. Thats my problem with him.
That said, compared to Obama he’s a giant.
My preference in this race is Gingrich, baggage and all, followed by Santorum (though he annoys me), followed by Romney and finally Paul. Even Paul is head and shoulders the better man when you put him up alongside Obama.
But I think Gingrich is going to be the next president, and I think he will be a fine one. And we’re going to need good men at the top because I’m convinced we haven’t heard the last of Iran’s mullahs.
The answer would be yes and no. Yes to some portion of Evangelical voters, not to other portion. So, the question should be: how many Evangelical (or other conservative Christian) voters would decline to vote for a Mormon? Will it be enough to influence the results? I actually don’t know the answer, since I don’t have state-by-state data on this.
It would be a choice between two evils I suspect.
The mormons are reputably very good money managers and prepare themselves for armageddon.
Sounds good to me...
In SC there seems to have been no questions asked about Mitt's great-grandfather having 5 wives (that's why he went to Mexico), so "wives sharing their husbands" doesn't seem to be a problem.
“I believe some of the people here are more bothered by Mr. Romney being a Mormon than Newt Gingrich having three wives,”
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Wow, where to start... First off true believers in the Word of God know that Mitt belongs to a CULT and that even Newt with his 3 wives, if he truly has come to Christ, is forgiven and in the fold.
Being a Mormon is a HUGE negative if you are truly a believer, being a sinner, forgiven and saved by grace just makes you one of us.
And just to be clear, I am not giddy that Newt acted like a pig (because he did) but he has publicly stated his sin and has (according to him and I believe him) asked God and his family to forgive him.
As a Christian I can relate to being a sinner in need of forgiveness. What I can not relate to is thinking that I too can earn my way to god status and one day rule my own planet!
Time will tell if Newt will be president, but the Bible is full of men, ie, Abraham, Moses, David and Paul who were also sinners that God called to be leaders of men. If they were good enough for God, then based on what Newt has said about his repentance, he is good enough for me.
Not the Bishop, if the Prophet had not granted permission to Mitt when they had their meeting, then Mitt would not have run.
The Romney's migrated here after being converted from Christianity in 1841 in England, to serve Joseph Smith, they are one of the most powerful families in the religion, Romney is only about 20 years from becoming a God himself.
This run by Bishop Romney is being coordinated with the Mormon leadership and it's advertising agencies, and their current public relations push.
Already part of the secretive, most devoted, most devout, 15% of the elite Mormons which are separate in many ways from the rank and file, for instance Mitt's wedding was held in secret, only the elites were qualified to witness it, even his wife's parents were forbidden, it is believed that Mitt will be promoted into the true inner sanctum following all of this.
Mitt will not compromise on the true purpose of his life, and his destiny to become a God.
Conservatives, especially Catholic conservatives, need to start making clear to the media and anti-social conservatives, that all Christian churches are on the same page in regards to Mormonism.
Catholics need to start seeing that being left out of Christian concerns is insulting, and an attack on their faith, and a way of diluting Christianity as a force in America.
If religious belief did not make any difference a demon worshipping wiccan would be a perfectly acceptable nominee. Likewise a head hunter cannibal witch doctor would make a grand president. Just put aside his religious practices and only consider his leadership skills.
We are free to practice any religion we please, with the exception of head hunting and a few other religious rites too gruesome to delineate. We are also free to reject from voting for leadership anyone whose religious practices are offensive to our own.
Romney’s religious beliefs are offensive to me. His pious belief that becoming president will insure him the same status as God is insane. Romney is ontologically insane. He does not believe in the universe created by the one true God. He is, by any measure, a religious nutcase.
Is Romney’s LDS faith still a factor among evangelical voters?
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I dont know about “evangelicals”
but for this Christian its that open marriage doctrine...
“celetrial marriage” “the first principle” AKA polygamy..
Well, DUH!
YES...it is still a disqualifying issue ranked about 20 below other disqualifiers that have nothing to do with his cult membership.
Putting religious persecution lipstick on this liberal pig isn’t going to turn him into a victim.
I don't vote for anyone who cannot apply the Socratic method in Western logic, on an issue that essentially forms a world view. I agree we are not electing a pastor: but I also try to estimate a candidate's ability to think logically. Maybe that's why Mittens flip-flops so much.
From the story - “If the rest of america had the morals of mormonism we’d have nothing to worry about.”
The morals of mormonism have given us the amoral life of the FLDS
The morals of mormonism have given us liberals like Reid and Romney
The morals of mormonism have given us mormons who will lie and misrepresent when expedient.
The morals of mormonism are as white washed tombs.
**Is Romney’s LDS faith still a factor among evangelical voters?**
It would seem it is a negative factor in the South. Do you expect evangelicals to vote for him who paid to have babies killed with his Romneycare? I don’t.
Posters like you give FR a bad name. Stand up for what you believe in already!
“Posters like you give FR a bad name. Stand up for what you believe in already!”
Well, let’s see:
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints are forbidden to post under “caucus” “ecumenical” and “devotional”. How would you suggest I “stand up” for what I believe when I am forbidden to do so on this site. No one left here but the brown nosers and yes men.
I was responding that you could post on OPEN threads like everyone else, but since you’ve been zotted, ‘it mattereth not’ as you say.
1998 zot
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