Blog 5, the LDS Political Identity

            Often people assume that Mormons are devout Republicans, due to our conservative beliefs, and most recently our stand against gay marriage. Though are we really as invested in the Republican Party as people see us? Has the church given rise to an “LDS Political Identity” that is as uniformly accepted across the board as the rest of the country believes? That’s what we’re about to decide.

            In order to determine where there is an LDS political identity, we must first define political identity. Political identity is, as defined by David J. Samuels, “the ways that individuals categorize themselves and others and how they understand the power relationships of domination and oppression that exist between groups.¹” While this is a very comprehensive definition of political identity, Professor Hawkins more simply defined it as any identity that significantly shapes political decisions.

            If we look to “Do LDS Dems like Mitt Romney?” on Utah Data Points, we can see that there is indeed an LDS identity that transcends into politics. The data collected by Quin Monson, stated that 23% of Mormon Democrats thought that Mitt Romney was “very favorable,” while only 10% of all democrats said the same thing. Through this we can see that the church does indeed affect political decisions. If the church didn’t affect political decisions, we would expect Mormon Democrats to vote the same as the rest of their party; however this shows that there is a definite increase in support for Mitt Romney that is unusually high. Therefore, since Mormon Democrats are showing stronger support for an LDS Republican, this shows that there is an LDS political identity.

            This doesn’t necessarily prove that there is a distinct party identity that is associated with the LDS political identity. Due to the survey, we can see that Mormons vote for the candidate that they think will further their beliefs, which are founded in the gospel, by voting across party lines. There are a large amount of Mormon Democrats, and while they support their party, the “Mormon” appears to play a stronger role, and have a stronger sense of identity than does “Democrat.” Since a democrat would most likely vote for President Obama, as he is the democratic candidate, we can see that there is a very strong LDS political identity, rather than party identity.  

            We would consider this political identity to have developed mainly through constructivism. Many Mormons are converts, and switch from other political identities to the LDS political identity, showing that it is malleable, even though it may appear primordial. In a lot of cases however, it is primordial. The LDS church is very focused on families, so being raised in the gospel provides that primordial political identity that is developed early in life. However, people still leave the church, and aren’t bound to this political identity; they choose to accept it, and so we would still consider it to be constructivist.

            The reason this identity exists in the first place can be largely associated with the close knit culture of the LDS church. Where members are placed into separate wards where they encourage weekly attendance, are given the responsibility to visit and care for other members of the ward, and mainly stand together against the temptations and tribulations that come from living in the world. This culture promotes this very strong LDS identity, forming kinship bonds amongst its members. Kinship bonds that are normally associated with primordial identities, but don’t necessarily have to be, as we can see with the strong LDS identity.

            Therefore, we can conclude that there is a LDS political identity, a strong one, which is mainly developed through constructivism, though is also largely primordial, and is due to the community and culture associated with the church.

Works Cited

1.            Samuels, David J. "Chapter 6: Political Identity." Comparative Politics. Upper River Saddle, NJ: Pearson Education, n.d. 148-70. Print.

2.            Monson, Quin. "Do LDS Dems like Mitt Romney?" Utah Data Points. N.p., 22 Aug. 2012. Web. 12 Oct. 2012.