Gauging the impact of religion and culture on public opinion: A multi-method cross-national and cross-cultural examination of Mormons.

Abstract

Recent years have witnessed a growing interest among political scientists in the "religious dimension" of public opinion. However, a lack of authoritative interpretation within denominations, ethnic and political cultural influences, and methodological controversies have confounded our understanding of religion's impact on political opinions. This study conducts a critical test of religion as a determinant of the political views of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons or Latter-day Saints). Specifically, this dissertation explores the questions: To what degree are LDS political world views constrained by religious belief after controlling for ethnic and political cultural influences? To what extent are traditional Mormon beliefs mediated by indigenous ethnic and political cultural beliefs?

I evaluate the political views of a multi-national and multi-racial sample of active Latter-day Saints. Using Q sorts, surveys and interviews, I identify six "types" of political world views that span most of the political spectrum. Overall, there is a high level of commonality across types, mainly with regard to social issues and, to a lesser degree, economic and unique LDS issues. However, I also find significant racial and cultural effects which have been ignored in previous research. Non-white Latter-day Saints are significantly more progressive on many issues. Furthermore, Canadian, Mexican and American members differ systematically on a host of issues. I conclude that religion is an important source of political constraint on family and moral issues, economic self-sufficiency, and civic engagement. Nevertheless, the failure to control for race and culture has led scholars to overstate the otherwise significant influence of LDS religion on members' political views.