The Mormon Generation Gap

Although the vast majority of Mormons identify themselves as Republican, the younger generation is not necessarily voting with their parents. In this election, religion is not the driving force behind at least some of the Mormon youth vote.

source: abc News

LDS historian Matthew Bowman, quoted in the article, traces the gap to the new openness to American society that emerged under President Hinckley.

Comments

[Tom D]

Wishful thinking on the part of the press, though I do think there is some truth to this quote attributed to Churchill: “If you're not a liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you're not a conservative at forty you have no brain.”

[Christopher]

What is wishful thinking on the part of the press, Tom? That "the younger generation [of Mormons] is not necessarily voting with their parents" and that religious tribalism "is not the driving force behind at least some of the Mormon youth vote?" Because both of those things seem quite obvious.

And the continued condescension by older generations is getting pretty tiresome. I hope that at forty, regardless of my politics, I won't be the condescending jackass you are.

[Clark]

Republicans are having difficulty with the young across the board. They've made some bad strategic issues relative to demographics.

Compare this to the 80's when much of the growth of Republicans was among the young.

[DavidH]

As I understand it, much of the disaffectiont in the younger generation from organized religion (including LDS) in this country is the apparent harshly anti-LGBTQ messages sent by organized religion. I think the same is true of youth and the GOP. I think the Church's distancing itself slowly but surely from harsh anti-LGBTQ statements and policies of the past will help to some degree in retaining loyalty of the youth. (In my day, the Church's policy on priesthood/temple was a contributing cause to some disaffection in the then-rising generation. Is it possible that this was a cause of the right wing leanings of the Church membership--those who were grievously offended by the priesthood/temple race/lineage restriction tended to be more liberal and dropped out, leaving in the Church those who were not so offended (who tended to be more conservative politically) stayed in?)

[Bradley]

I voted republican until I was about 40. Then I figured out that I was voting against myself all those years. Gutting higher education investment, shipping my job overseas, etc.

[brandt]

Going along with DavidH's statement, Pew did a survey last year that showed that many of the Millennial generation, whether Republican or Democrat, are more liberal when it comes to social policy.

http://www.people-press.org/2011/11/03/section-8-domestic-and-foreign-policy-views/

Bowman also gets into a fascinating discussion further on in the article about how much our tribal instinct as Mormons might be playing a factor in Romney's "Mormon" vote. I'll be very intrigued on election night to see how much Romney takes Utah/Idaho by.

In 2008, Republicans took Utah at 62.3% of the vote (compared to 34.7% for Democrats). Idaho was 61.5% Republican, 36.1% Democrat.

Lots of mitigating factors in that (including a weaker GOP candidate in McCain), but I've got to imagine the numbers will be much higher in both states due to the Mormon vote. Utah does have a lower average age, so that will be interesting to see if the younger group impacts the vote at all. Is it beyond the realm of possibility that Romney takes Utah by 80%? 90%?

[Jettboy]

I have seen lots of discussions with the below 30 group of Mormons, and they are no less Republican than they were so many years ago. In fact, they are more open to talking conservative politics than they were 20 years ago. Even the less active young Mormons I know of are not less Republican than the older generation. I have to agree that its the usual MSM wishful thinking talking with those who agree with them while ignoring everyone else. Statistics would go a long way to deciding how true this is, although I again think its bull.

[don]

I sense a great deal of difference in the younger generation, particularly on the subject of gay marriage. Mormon youth today are not as isolated in the broader community as they used to be. They grow up with friends of other faiths and are more exposed to people who are different in many ways, including sexual orientation.

[Aaron]

Nothing remains static forever in politics. Utah, for example, went for Roosevelt four times if I remember correctly. And as recently as the 1970s, Democrats had three of the four Congressional delegation seats and had a nice long run with two widely popular governors. Just when Republicans think they have a lock on the Mormon vote, they may just find it slip through their hands.