The research project, ‘Religion, Party Loyalty, and the Utah LDS Church’, focuses on the current political and religious developments in Utah. It tracks key themes relating to religious and political free speech in the United States through the lens of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). The LDS Church, associated with conservative theology and Republican politics, is situated in the predominantly Republican-voting state of Utah. Many Utah voters have apparently been divided between their party loyalties and their concerns about both the political and personal directions of Trumpism, especially after the U.S. Capitol attack on January 6th 2021. By paying attention to how grassroots American politics under Trump and after has an important, yet under-recognised LDS dimension, this project seeks to shed light on how complex changes occurring within the political landscape are being perceived and experienced by ordinary people.
Methods
As Research Assistant, my role was to create monitoring lists on published sources in order to create a dynamic picture of the dominant strands of Utah opinion and trace their evolution through the months, November 2021 to June 2022. The collected and collated data was primarily drawn from Utah press sources covering national developments, state-wide news and highlights from local towns and counties. Other media, such as blogs, social media and television channels were also regularly monitored for commentary on the Church of Latter-Day Saints’ stance on wider social and political debates. Throughout the data collection process, I paid close attention to three aspects: first, overtly electoral issues; second, indicators of opinion on politically sensitive issues; and third, tensions arising between traditional Republicans and Trump-style Republicans. By sorting sources according to these categories, I then coded for recurring themes, from the more established debates on abortion and LGBTQ+ rights, to the rising prominence of climate change and environmental issues in public discourse. In tracking challenges to the LDS Church leadership’s constitutionalism, I identified developments within the Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saint category, in aim of deciphering how far tensions in Utah Republicanism are mapping onto fundamentalist sectarianism in the Church. In general, this methodological approach was particularly helpful for picking out the finer details of issues facing Utahns at a local level over time that might be pushing the anxieties of ordinary people. For example, local news regularly reported on the experience of severe drought pressuring communities across the Beehive State. To compliment this monitoring task, I also drew up an additional reference table of Utahn political characters in order to gain an idea of the number of pro-Trump politicians being elected, their mandates and religious affiliation, to sharpen our understanding of the face of Utah’s Republican Party.
Findings
While the published sources collected did not necessarily provide direct answers to all preliminary research questions, the cumulative dataset which was compiled into a 16-page monitoring report did reveal some pertinent findings. It is clear, for example, that the Utah Republican Party still has a strong Trump-style character. Despite pro-Trump politicians holding the Republican majority, however, the Utah press alongside the Church of Latter-Day Saints takes a critical stance on continued claims that the 2020 election was stolen and Republican attempts at electoral interference. It was possible to identify the influence of church leadership official statements on the general public, but also challenges posed by LDS Fundamentalists. For example, in line with the church’s support for COVID-19 precautions and vaccination, the majority of Latter-Day Saints were found to be against citing religious reasons for vaccine exemptions. But unlike the leadership of the LDS Church and most members, LDS Fundamentalists showed more vaccine hesitation, instead seeking alternatives. Although there is no obligation for church members to act in alignment with the church, Sen. Mitt Romney notably appears to act in accordance with the official views of the LDS Church. Yet other Republican candidates affiliated with the LDS Church do not, for example, Sen. Mike Lee. This was particularly apparent in the gun violence debate, where Sen. Romney was the only Utah Republican Senator not in opposition to proposed gun safety legislation. These findings improve our understanding of the continuities and change within the Utah political landscape over the past year and the position of the LDS Church within this.