In the key battleground state of Arizona, voters from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints are experiencing a deep divide and a political identity crisis as their historical loyalty to the Republican Party is tested, reported The New York Times on Friday.
Mormon voters have in recent years been defecting to the Democratic Party in small but increasing numbers, which took their population core state of Utah from a 42-point GOP rout in 2012 to just over 20 points in 2020.
And in Arizona, which also has a significant LDS population, an unusually high 18 percent of voters went for President Joe Biden, contributing to his win of just over 10,000 votes.
"Seeking their support for the third time, Mr. Trump appears to be dividing the state’s Mormons more than ever, according to interviews with more than a dozen Mormon voters and state political analysts — which could give Vice President Kamala Harris an edge," reported Kellen Browning.
One such voter, Mike Badgett, said of Trump's relationship with religious voters, “People in my moderate circle of friends are watching and saying, ‘I can no longer do this.’ I think the wheels are coming off of this agreement.”
Trump's agenda was always a relatively poor fit for the LDS church which, while it aligned with him on some traditional issues like abortion, promotes support for immigration and refugees far more than similarly conservative denominations, the Times reported.
The church's voters have also been alienated by his vulgarity toward women. The January 6 attack and Trump's criminal conviction in New York drove a further divide, the report stated.
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While all of this is going on, said the report, "traditional Mormon attitudes are changing, spurred by a younger and more diverse generation of millennial and Generation Z churchgoers who are more open-minded about issues like LGBTQ rights and divorce."
Even on abortion, the repeal of Roe v. Wade has caused many women in the LDS church to rethink how their opposition conflicts with the church's stated values of autonomy.
If there is increased Democratic support from LDS voters, some told The Times it would likely take the form of a gender divide.
Allison Jones, who lives in an eastern suburb of Phoenix, said, “There are going to be a lot of women that are going to get their mail-in ballots, they’re going to walk into that booth, and their husbands are never going to know what they did.”
Meanwhile, "Sherry Macnab, 47, a Mesa resident and corporate event manager, said she knew of women who had placed Post-it notes in women’s restrooms in churches, reminding them that their husbands would not know whom they voted for."
