The history of Latter-day Saints is one of persecution, which makes the faithful acutely sensitive to religious bigotry and hostility toward outsiders. Forced to settle in the harsh but safe haven of the Salt Lake Valley, at the foot of Utah’s jagged Wasatch Mountains, believers spread their faith throughout the West. (Las Vegas, now synonymous with sin, was founded by Mormon settlers.)
Today, nearly 60% of Utah residents are Mormon. In Idaho, just about a quarter. In the rest of the country, the percentages are small: just 6% of the population in Arizona, Nevada and Wyoming, the next-highest ranking states.
But their political clout belies those numbers.
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