Few LDS voted Rocky

Like so many issues in religiously divided Salt Lake City, the vote in Tuesday's mayoral election that gave incumbent Rocky Anderson four more years split along LDS and non-LDS lines.

A Dan Jones & Associates exit poll of 3,093 Salt Lake City voters showed that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints overwhelmingly picked challenger Frank Pignanelli, while non-LDS residents overwhelmingly chose Anderson.

Anderson won with 54 percent of the vote compared with Pignanelli's 46 percent. The difference was that only 45 percent of the voters were LDS Church members, while 55 percent were non-LDS, according to Jones' data. All told, 81 percent of voters who said they were LDS voted for Pignanelli, while only 19 percent voted for Anderson.

Conversely, among voters who said they weren't LDS, 81 percent voted for Anderson while 19 percent voted for Pignanelli, according the data.

Jones' surveyors asked voters who they voted for, how old they were, what religion they were and what political party they belonged to.

Jones' polls consistently show Salt Lake City to be roughly 45 percent LDS and 55 percent non-LDS. However, LDS Church members traditionally go to the polls in greater numbers than non-LDS residents. Therefore, past exit polling usually shows a greater number of LDS voters than non-LDS voters even in Salt Lake City, Jones said.

In this election, however, many LDS voters stayed home, Jones found. The majority of LDS voters are Republican, Jones noted, and since both Pignanelli and Anderson were Democrats, GOP voters likely didn't feel they related to either candidate, Jones said.

"It's difficult for a Republican to vote for a Democrat, and both candidates were Democrats," he said,adding if Republican LDS Church member Molonai Hola, eliminated in the primary, would have endorsed Pignanelli the outcome might have been different.

Another group, those 65 and older that heavily favored Pignanelli, also stayed home, kept there likely because of the bad weather, Jones said.

Early last year, Anderson had reasonable popularity numbers among LDS residents. However, polls commissioned by the Deseret Morning News showed that after the controversial settlement with the LDS Church over the Main Street Plaza, Anderson's popularity among LDS residents dwindled.

During the plaza fight, Anderson accused some City Council members, who are LDS, of forming their opinions based on how LDS Church leaders wanted the plaza fight to turn out instead of doing what was best for the city.