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Kamala Harris is Reaching Out to Mormon Voters in Arizona, a Battlefield.
(VOR News) – The vice president, Kamala Harris, is trying harder to win over members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
She is rallying prominent followers of the faith in Arizona, a critical state, to back her assertion that Donald Trump does not align with the organization’s principles.
According to her state campaign on Thursday, the formation of an advisory board formalised the outreach to both present and former members of the religion, frequently referred to as the Mormon church.
It’s conceivable that Latter-day Kamala Harris Saints and former church members will prove to be significant in what is anticipated to be an extremely close race. Approximately 450,000 people attend church in Arizona, which is 6% of the state’s entire population.
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints members are very inclined to stick with the Republican alliance. They have long been a significant influence in Republican primaries and Western regional politics, and they are primarily found in states with sizable majorities of Republicans.
However, Kamala Harris hasn’t influenced national elections.
According to AP VoteCast, nearly 90% of Mormon voters worldwide backed Donald Trump in the 2020 election, while over 25% backed Democrat Joe Biden.
Part of Kamala Harris’ approach is to prevent Trump from obtaining meaningful leads among the demographic groups that he supports.
Although it is highly improbable that she would receive even a small portion of the votes voted by Latter-day Saints, a small proportion would still be enough to make a significant difference in a state where recent elections have been close.
In the 2020 election, Biden won by almost 10,500 votes. The Democratic candidate for attorney general in 2022, Kris Mayes, won by a slim margin of 280 votes.
Supporters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Arizona subscribe to the church doctrine that the US Constitution was inspired by God. They make a faith-based plea, persuading voters to support the Democratic ticket despite their misgivings.
Joel John, a former state legislator for the Republican party, will serve as co-chair of the organisation.
“The Constitution is a tenet of our faith, and we certainly shouldn’t be voting for people who have shown disdain for it,” John stated. John will also serve on the committee. We should give absolutely no assistance at all to someone who attempted to overthrow the government on January 6.
However, Kamala Harris and John stated that it is the policy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to back candidates who are “good, honest, and wise.”
The church is located in Salt Lake City, although it does not endorse any political parties or politicians. The assumption was made that these moral attributes, which they believed Trump lacked, outweighed any intellectual differences they might have with Kamala Harris over issues like her economic ideas or her stance on gun ownership.
It has been tough for Trump to win over Latter-day Saints, despite the fact that many of his conservative religious supporters have progressively warmed up to him.
Trump’s practice of using profanity and disparaging language towards women and people of colour offends a lot of churchgoers because it contradicts the moral values, humility, and compassion that the church espouses.
However, it hasn’t helped that Trump is an opponent of two of Kamala Harris’ most well-known practitioners of the faith:
Kamila Harris Utah Senator Mitt Romney with former Arizona Senator Jeff Flake.
A significant portion of the population in the East Valley of metro Phoenix, which is located in the state of Arizona, belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In this suburban area, voters of all stripes have voiced their displeasure with Republicans who support Trump, contributing to the transformation of a state that has traditionally been a Republican bastion into a battleground.
Mesa, home to almost 500,000 people, is the third-biggest city in Arizona. Its present history begins with a community established in the 1800s by churchgoers who were pioneers.
Furthermore, churchgoers colonised a significant portion of rural Arizona, and as a result, their descendants continue to have strong links to the area.
Converting Latter-day Saints has always been a goal of the Democratic Party. In 2016, Hillary Clinton made a comparison between President Trump’s promise to forbid Muslim immigration and the long history of religious persecution experienced by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Additionally, four years later, Biden made an investment in a religious membership organization—exactly what Kamala Harris is attempting to achieve now.
Brittany Romanello, an anthropologist and post-doctoral fellow at Arizona State University, says Kamala Harris has an especially high chance of winning over younger Latter-day Saints, despite the significant “social expectations” that followers of the faith associate with conservatives.
The greater variety of both the country as a whole and younger Latter-day Saints is the cause of this. She has conducted a study on Latter-day Saint identity and culture.
Romanello no longer attends church services, despite having grown up in one. According to studies he cited, Mormons think voting is about more than just supporting their political party. Their morals are the basis for their voting.
SOURCE: AP
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