Poll: Mormon church membership negative for Huntsman, Romney

SALT LAKE CITY – A majority of Utahns believe the perception of the Mormon faith has gotten better since the last presidential race, but most still see LDS Church membership as a negative for Jon Huntsman Jr. and Mitt Romney.

The latest Deseret News/KSL-TV poll results come on the eve of Huntsman becoming the second LDS candidate for president in 2012. Utah's former governor is set to announce his bid for the White House Tuesday morning at the Statue of Liberty.

Romney, the other Mormon in the race and the former leader of the Salt Lake Olympics, ran for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008 and is widely seen as the current frontrunner.

A new national poll released Monday confirms there continues to be a reluctance to vote for a Mormon presidential candidate.

A Gallup poll released Monday showed 22 percent of Americans would not vote for their political party's presidential nominee next year if that person is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The national poll, conduced June 9-12, found Americans' resistance to electing a Mormon president is exceeded only by their opposition to voting for an atheist, or a gay or lesbian candidate. The percentage of those unwilling to vote for a Mormon has remained largely unchanged since 1967.

In Utah, 50 percent of registered voters surveyed by Dan Jones & Associates said Huntsman's and Romney's Mormonism will impact their campaigns negatively.  Nearly one-third said it would have no impact but just 17 percent saw membership in the church as having a positive effect on the race.

Still, just over two-thirds of Utahns agreed that in general, the perception of the LDS faith in other areas of the country is better than it was during the last presidential race. Only 8 percent said it was worse; 15 percent saw the perception as about the same.

The Deseret News/KSL-TV poll was conducted June 13-16 of 406 registered voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent. Sixty-five percent of the poll respondents identified themselves as active members of the LDS Church.

"Utahns are a little sensitized," said Kirk Jowers, head of the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics and a longtime Romney supporter who is also close to Huntsman.

"What many polls fail to capture is Mormonism is a huge plus for many people in the country. Focus groups show Mormons are seen as honest and hard-working and patriotic," Jowers said.