How deep is support for Mitt Romney among Mormons nationally?

Our take: Support for Mitt Romney among Mormons is quite strong overall, Quin Monson, director of the BYU Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy, wrote in a new post at utahdatapoints.com. So how deep is that support, and is President Barack Obama losing Mormon supporters to Romney?

"Given their shared faith, it should come as no surprise that Mormons support Mitt Romney for president," Monson wrote. "With the first Mormon nominee for a major party presidential ticket, you might expect the historic moment to mean that Mormons of all political stripes would be more supportive of Romney's candidacy compared to other recent Republican presidential candidates.

"Support from 77 percent of Mormons for a Mormon presidential candidate is, in fact, about ten points higher than the support Mormons gave overall to John McCain (67 percent)."

"Romney holds the overwhelming majority of McCain voters from 2008. However, Obama appears to lose about a quarter of his Mormon supporters to Romney. To be sure, the consequences of this shift aren't enough to affect any national results, but this is the kind of shift that would matter in a western battleground like Nevada in a close election," Monson wrote. "What the shift from Obama 2008 to Romney 2012 among Mormon Democrats really suggests (is) a religious group affinity for Romney that transcends party for some voters."

Read more about Mormons and Romney on utahdatapoints.com.