Blog 5: Political Identity

In the United States there is a distinct political identity among LDS members.  While there are several exceptions, there is generally a conservative identity among those of the LDS faith that is obtained from the beginning through their families and communities.

            A 2007 survey showed that 60% of LDS members identify themselves as conservative while only 10% identified as liberal, compared to the national average of 37% identifying conservative and 20% identifying as liberal (Pew Forum).  The survey also showed “Mormons to the right of all other major religious traditions on a continuum of ideology and partisanship (Pew Forum).  On social issues, LDS members opposed abortion and homosexual marriage about 68-70%, but on other issues they were far less conservative (Pew Forum).  Only 56% were in favor of smaller government and 55% were in favor of environmental protection laws over job creation which tends to be a more liberal stance (Pew Forum).  So despite only slightly Republican leanings on most issues, 65% identified as Republican (Pew Forum).  This willingness to identify with one party and ideology despite being more diverse on specific political issues supports the idea that LDS members naturally have at least have some tendency to identify themselves politically with the Republican party.  We also see that those who consistently attend church, and therefore would identify more with the LDS faith, more often tend to identify as conservative.  “Two-thirds of weekly attenders say they are conservative, compared with 40% of those who attend less often.”  This again suggests that LDS members identify politically with conservative views.

            Why this political identity? I would argue that LDS members grow up in families and communities where being conservative and Republican is accepted and, in many cases, encouraged by their church and family.  Teachings of morality and the church’s stance on abortion and gay marriage play a role in their dominantly conservative social view, and the trend of conservative leanings seems to have spread.  The strong bonds within the church between members and families also play a huge part in explaining this consistently right political stance.  From a very young age conservative ideals seem to be present in LDS members and this identity does not see much change.

            This idea seems to encourage the approach of primordialism: “an approach to understanding identity which assumes that identities are something people are born with or that emerge through deep psychological processes in early childhood, given one’s family and community context” (Samuels, 153).  This approach seems likely since we see little change in political affiliation by LDS members.  Even after schooling or marriage, neither a spouse or education seems to sway members to the left, but rather we see members who are married or who have more education moving more to the right.  LDS college graduates leaned more Republican 77% of the time, while only 53% of LDS members with a high school diploma or less leaned Republican, and 70% of married members leaned Republican compared to 52% of unmarried members (Pew Forum).  Based on this data it would appear that members don’t move away from their conservative political stance as they age and mature which confirms the primordialism approach.

            From this information, I would argue that LDS members do indeed have a conservative, Republican political identity due to church teachings, and family and community trends and this supports the idea of primordialism.

Works Cited

1.      "III. Social and Political Views." A Portrait of Mormons in the U.S.: Social and Political Views. The Pew Forum on Religious and Public Life, 24 July 2009. Web. 11 Oct. 2012. <http://www.pewforum.org/Christian/Mormon/A-Portrait-of-Mormons-in-the-US--Social-and-Political-Views.aspx>.

2.      Samuels, David J. Comparative Politics. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, 2012. Print. 153.