by Sandy » Tue Jan 20, 2015 12:59 pm
Aside from the major doctrinal differences between Mormons and Evangelical Christians, the worldviews are significantly and substantially different. If its not "religious bigotry" for Evangelical Christians to avoid voting for Democrats on political and philosophical grounds, or because they do not see the Democratic candidate as "one of them" in terms of Christian faith, then it is certainly not religious bigotry to determine not to vote for someone because their Mormon faith puts them at odds on almost every point of their respective worldview. Well beyond his Mormon faith, however, the majority of American voters said "No, thank you" to Mitt, correctly discerning that his opponent, despite his known flaws and failings, would make a much better chief executive. I see no avenue through which Mitt could even match his vote total of 2012, much less increase it, which would be a necessity to win in 2016.
The kind of candidate the Republicans need to win in 2016, at least, as things now seem to indicate, is a dynamic centrist, someone who is articulate, can appeal to the majority of independent voters, and to a segment of conservative Democrats. They need the kind of candidate that the Tea Party wing will never let them nominate, at least, not in the immediate future. I don't think they're farsighted enough to realize that the turnout will be much larger in 2016 than it was last year, and if they don't win that top of the ticket, they're not going anywhere else either.