How Mormons Fed Up With Trump Could Help Lift Biden in Arizona [View all]

[Zorro]

Loyalty to the Republican Party is ingrained in the Latter-day Saints religion. But in Arizona, some find the president’s behavior at odds with their values and are shifting to Joe Biden.

For the better part of a century, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have made their political home under the Republican Party’s tent, motivated by conservative beliefs rooted in the family values, personal liberty and economic frugality of their faith.

But some church members now find themselves in a political quandary: They’re still Republicans, but they no longer fit in with the party as exemplified by President Trump, who for them represents a hard departure from the church’s teachings on sex, crude language, empathy and humility.

In Arizona — the only state up for grabs that has a significant Latter-day Saint population — a growing number are finding refuge in Joseph R. Biden Jr., the Democratic presidential nominee.

“I think the White House should be worried about L.D.S. voters, especially in Arizona,” said Quin Monson, a Utah-based pollster, political scientist and author of a book about the politics of the religion.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/18/us/politics/arizona-mormons-trump-biden.html