'Religion card' not in play in Salt Lake mayor's race

In his first election in 1999, Anderson was opposed by a faithful LDS Church member. In 2003, his final opponent, fellow Democrat Frank Pignanelli, was actually a faithful Catholic. Yet, ironically, Anderson picked up not only most of the non-Mormon vote, he actually got most of the Catholic vote, as well.

And while some said Anderson was splitting Salt Lake City residents along religious lines — faithful Mormons against Anderson, non-Mormons for him — Anderson coasted to election victories both times.

Bringing religion into a political race can be a two-edged sword. And while it appears to have worked for Anderson, it may not for someone else. Still, the power and influence of the LDS Church in civic matters has often been an unspoken issue in Utah politics.

A classic example of an LDS issue is a skybridge over Main. The church is spending more than $500 million to redevelop the downtown mall blocks. Part of that development calls for the skybridge. The city has a policy against skybridges and church planners will need a zoning variance for it.

Both Becker and Buhler say they support the church's skybridge, although Becker, an urban planner by profession, says by-and-large he opposes skybridges.

Support or opposition to the skybridge breaks out along religious lines, a mid-July poll by Dan Jones & Associates found — of active LDS members, 84 percent support the skybridge; of non-Mormons, more than 45 percent oppose the bridge, while around 35 percent support it.

Most Mormons vote Republican, and while there are fewer Republicans in Salt Lake City than in most other areas of the state, that trend continues in the state's capital as well.

Jones found in a poll earlier this month that Buhler gets most of his support from GOP Mormons. Sixty-two percent of Mormon registered voters in the city favor Buhler. Becker gets just 22 percent of the LDS vote, Jones found.

In his most recent poll, Jones found that 37 percent of registered voters said they are "active" Mormons. Twenty-five percent said they have no religion; 26 percent mentioned some other religion.

Thus, if the electorate were to split out along religious lines — as it did in both of Anderson's elections — the candidate carrying the non-Mormon vote would most likely succeed.

Even more, said Jones, when the mayoral candidates break out along partisan and religious lines, active Mormons tend to stay home and not vote — since they don't often like even the "Mormon" candidate, who historically has been more liberal than many LDS voters.

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