LDS Church Letter May Have Raised Primary Turnout

KSL News ^ | 6/30/06 | (Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[Reaganwuzthebest]

Some political observers are wondering whether a Mormon church statement urging members to vote in Tuesday's primary may have boosted turnout and helped five-term incumbent Republican Rep. Chris Cannon turn back challenger John Jacob.

Given that Cannon won by about the same margin as two years ago I'd say the support he's gotten is probaby what he would have seen no matter what. The Mormon church statement may have encouraged Jacob supporters out as well so either way Cannon most likely would have received about the same percentages. Now if illegal immigration gets worse in Utah that might change next time...

[colorcountry]

Given that Cannon won by about the same margin as two years ago I'd say the support he's gotten is probaby what he would have seen no matter what. The Mormon church statement may have encouraged Jacob supporters out as well so either way Cannon most likely would have received about the same percentages. Now if illegal immigration gets worse in Utah that might change next time...

I think you might be right.

[Torie]

Based on the Utah County turnout, which was higher than anyone expected, I believe the president had a significant impact on Republican voters and I believe that the church reminding people from the pulpit had a significant impact on the Republican voters, and I hope our efforts as a party had a significant impact,

Maybe the letter and the Bush calls only went out to Utah County and Salt Lake County. Whatever. The fact of the matter is that the immigration divides Mormons just like it divides GOP oriented voters generally. Normally Mormons are a very cohesive voting block. Not this time. We know that, because I suspect close to 90% of the voters were Mormon.

[Torie]

There seems to be this assertion floating around that Tancredo/Buchanan had some negative impact on Jacob's vote performance. I don't know where that comes from. It appears to me that they had no impact.

[batter]

Then again (IIRC), Mitt also vetoed the Drivers Licenses for illegals in Mass - I think that was in 2004?

Here is a site I found: Romney on Immigration . . . The Whole Enchilada

Romney comes out pretty tough on the issue. Disclaimer: the site is some Romney 4 Pres. site, but the quotes etc appear valid (and sourced).

[batter]

I may have to retract my earlier statement re: the LDS Church's influence. Intended or not, the letter may well have raised the voter turnout. Unfortunately, that is typically better for incumbents (or those who get major name recognition) as people who go to vote just for the sake of voting (ie uninformed) tend to strictly go with name recognition. It's unfortunate that more folks don't keep track of current events.

I was involved in a campaign (no not Jacobs) and went to well over 300 homes. It was amazing to see the differences in peoples' level of issue knowledge. Frankly, most were clueless about any given issue, then you had those who had listened to their unions etc, and finally a smaller segment who actually took the minor amount of time to keep up. Sad, but that's what I noticed.

[batter]

The fact of the matter is that the immigration divides Mormons just like it divides GOP oriented voters generally.

I couldn't agree more. On the one hand, you have those who think: gee, we need to be nice because sending them back etc would be mean and "they do the jobs we won't do" (the CBS news/status quo crowd, IMO). On the other hand, you have those who are fed up and want a real solution (legal LDS immigrants, the conservative Limbaugh etc listeners, and those affected by illegal immigration - such as ID theft victims). At least that's been my experience.

[Torie]

What town were you knocking doors in? Just curious.

[Republican Wildcat]

His name is my name too! (well, no, not really).

[Arizona Carolyn]

Romney has a lot of relatives in Mexico; his family comes from Mexico. I don't have a problem with that, but when I put it together with the LDS Church's stance on illegal immigration, he makes me nervous.

[Arizona Carolyn]

Yesterday was very interesting -- to me... we have a local radio station that has two hours a day of local talk issues in between the National talking heads. Our local State Senate representative is on for an hour each Friday and he invites people to be speakers.

The GOP is running a strong candidate (for the first time in years) for Attorney General of our state against a very weak Democratic AG (who replaced Napalitano in the job) and he was the guest for an hour yesterday.

Very interesting man with a good background, but what was interesting was the host of the show is a dem and HE said he thought he could vote for this man and even more a local, elderly, man who is a staunch Dem and cantankerous as all get out, called in, grilled the guy two ways to Sunday, and when he was done announced he would vote for the guy... for the first time in his life, he said he was going to vote for a Republican.

The main reason is the AG candidate is for upholding Prop 200 and the new law on illegal immigration into the State of Arizona instead of undermining both new laws at every turn along with our Governor, who the joke is carries her veto pen in her hip pocket so she can whip it out at the drop of a hat when the State Senate (GOP) sends anything related to illegal immigration to her to sign.

[batter]

I like his stance on illegal immigration (especially as I learn more about it), but, overall, I'm not so sure about him as a conservative. Time will tell.

[Arizona Carolyn]

I admit that right now I'm gun shy and will carefully examine the next candidate(s) I vote for on how truly conservative they are, but also how they stand on the issues of the day like immigration and the NAU.

[batter]

I think conservatives will all put a lot more scrutiny on the next set of candidates than has occurred in the past. You're definitely not alone.

Sorry about the hit-and-run posts. I guess I'm busier than I though today.

[Arizona Carolyn]

So am I, I just check in here and there.

[Saundra Duffy]

Our Bishop read the letter to us in Church and encouraged us to call our U.S. Senators. Several years ago, the LDS Church encouraged its members in California to vote for the Proposition stating that marriage is between a man and a woman. Church members were encouraged to have a yard sign, to work for the passage of the proposition and to vote accordingly. It was cool and it passed but then the politicians and courts crapped all over us and did what they wanted to do anyway.