Jews, Catholics view Mormons favorably; what it means for Mitt Romney

Should Mitt Romney win the Republican presidential nomination, it is unlikely his membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will be as big an issue in the general election as it has been in the Republican primary campaign.

That's the opinion of authors and researchers David E. Campbell and Robert D. Putnam, who wrote in the Wall Street Journal that a survey they have conducted about the feelings of Americans toward different religious groups suggests that "a Mormon politician like Mitt Romney may not face an impenetrable stained-glass ceiling after all."

Campbell, an associate professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame, and Putnam, a professor of public policy at Harvard, co-authored "American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us." They explained in the Journal that although Latter-day Saints generally scored low on their survey, "Mormons aren't viewed negatively by everyone, and the religious group that gives them the highest rating of all may come as a surprise: Jews."

It is the writers' theory that "Jews' warmth toward Mormons stems from solidarity with another group that is small and subject to intolerance . . . Roughly 15 percent of both Jews and Mormons say that they hear derogatory comments 'often.'"

Jews, however, are unlikely to support a Romney candidacy because they tend to vote for Democrats every bit as much as Mormons tend to vote for Republicans, Campbell and Putnam say. But Catholics and mainline Protestants, two other groups who view Mormons warmly, are.

"We hypothesize that white Catholics and mainline Protestants are fine with Mormons because they are not bothered by the same theological issues as are evangelicals," Campbell and Putnam wrote. "Nor are these politically moderate groups troubled by the same political issues as staunchly secular American and racial minorities, who are politically liberal and disagree with Mormons' conservative political views."

According to their data, the two writers indicate that "the key question isn't whether a Mormon can be elected president, but whether a Mormon can win the GOP nomination. Should Mr. Romney clear that hurdle, the evidence suggests that the general election would not hinge on his religion."

One possible example of Campbell's and Putnam's theory could be found in Wednesday's Kansas City Star, where a business professor wrote a column defending Mormonism.