Blog 5

Stephen Welling

Mormons are republicans. Growing up in the heart of moromndom I was taught this as an undisputed fact. I was shocked as a 13 year old when I met my first Mormon democrat. It was an eye opening experience to know that all Mormons were not democrats. Where not all Mormons are democrats, a majority of them are. There is a strong Latter-day Saint political identity in the United States.

Political Identity is defined as “the ways that individuals categorize themselves and others and how they understand the power relationships of domination and oppression that exists between groups” (Samuels 381). Utah has a larger percentage of Mormons than any other state. 69% of Utah Mormons claim to either be republican or lean republican (Brown 2010). Because of this large percentage people tend to categorize Mormons as republicans, thus giving them this political identity.

There are two conflicting arguments when it comes to the cause and development of identities. The first theory is primordialism. Primordialists believe that people are ‘born with or develop through a deep psychological process during early childhood, given ones family and community context’ (Samuels 153). The other theory is constructivism. Constructivists believe that “we think of identity as an evolving political process rather than as a fixed set of identity categories” (Samuels 153). Both theories are respected and bear consideration. I believe that both theories can be correct when explaining different identities and circumstances. Primordialism is the best theory for explaining the LDS political identity.

People generally like to assume that they are free thinkers and that they come to conclusions on their own. They don’t like to be thought of going with the flow and not being able to come to their own conclusions. As much as we would all like to think that every decision we make is a product of our independent minds, a lot of who we are is a product of the society we were raised in.  Most people garner their political identity from family members and members of the community. It is my belief that the higher percentage of LDS people in a community the larger the chance that the LDS people in that community will be republican. They develop their political bearing from the community of Latter-day Saints and it becomes a deeply rooted identity.

Conservative principles tend to resonate well within the LDS community. The churches stance on current social issues such as gay marriage and abortion are in line with current conservative thought. These issues lining up with the church’s position make it easier for Mormons to affiliate themselves with the Republican Party. Outside of social issues the church does not favor one party’s policies or ideas, which makes it possible to be a good Mormon as a democrat or republican.

People within the LDS church develop their political identity at the same time they develop their religious identity. They derive their political identity from the indoctrination of family and members of the community; because of this Primordialism is the theory that best explains why a majority of Latter-day Saints are affiliated with the Republican Party.

REFERENCES

Brown, Adam. More on whether good Mormons can be good Democrats. Posted December 7, 2010. http://utahdatapoints.com/2010/12/more-on-whether-good-mormons-can-be-good-democrats/ (accessed October 11, 2012)

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