Will Mormons vote for Donald Trump this November? With all the attention given to whether or not evangelicals will support Trump (and the related, if diversionary, question of whether those who do are actually “real” evangelicals), the question of Mormons in the 2016 election has largely been overlooked.
On one hand, Mormons make up less than two percent of the American population, a small sliver compared to evangelicals and Catholics.
But Mormons have also provided the Republican Party with one of its most solid voting blocs for half a century. In the last couple of presidential elections, Mormons have given the GOP around 80 percent of their support. Utah, where Mormons make up about 60 percent of the population, has not backed a Democrat for president since Lyndon Johnson’s landslide victory in 1964. With that history, a 2009 Gallup poll named Utah the “most Republican state.” In other western states like Nevada, Idaho and Wyoming, LDS citizens provide a reliable base for the Republican Party there.
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