Why did JFK do so well amongst Mormons?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Mormons weren't quite yet the Titanium R demographic they were from roughly the 70s through Trump, but JFK broke 45% in Utah, which was still a mostly Republican state at the time, (huge swing from 1956, and LBJ didn't get that much of a swing in 1964), and he didn't do badly in Idaho either, including eastern Idaho.

[lfromnj]

Perhaps due to Catholics/Mormons sharing the fact they were both persecuted by Protestants?

[Torie]

Well one factor might be that Mormons were relatively poor back then as compared to now. I was in Utah around 1960, and the last time about three years ago. The transformation was just amazing to me (e.g. the road from St George to Mountain Meadows for what seemed like 15 miles or so, was festooned with huge homes, after one got past the massive golf course communities in what was once but a pit stop to get gas and food, and perhaps stay the night at a motel). Now, perhaps, the current trends are swinging the pendulum back.

And given how Protestants treated them, they had no reason to think a Catholic was a threat to the "American way of life" either. Heck, a guy I worked with as a young lawyer who was a born again Christian referred to them as a "Satanic cult." I literally said to him, "What?" It was that bizarre of a comment to my ears.

Yeah, without seeing the post above, I just added exactly what he said. Great minds think alike!

[Diabolical Materialism]

Well one factor might be that Mormons were relatively poor back then as compared to now. I was in Utah around 1960, and the last time about three years ago. The transformation was just amazing to me (e.g. the road from St George to Mountain Meadows for what seemed like 15 miles or so, was festooned with huge homes, after one got past the massive golf course communities in what was once but a pit stop to get gas and food, and perhaps stay the night at a motel). Now, perhaps, the current trends are swinging the pendulum back.

And given how Protestants treated them, they had no reason to think a Catholic was a threat to the "American way of life" either. Heck, a guy I worked with as a young lawyer who was a born again Christian referred to them as a "Satanic cult." I literally said to him, "What?" It was that bizarre of a comment to my ears.

Yeah, without seeing the post above, I just added exactly what he said. Great minds think alike!

That's really interesting. What do you think were the reasons for that change in economic standing?

[dpmapper]

That's really interesting. What do you think were the reasons for that change in economic standing?

Turns out having stable two-parent families and not doing drugs and alcohol is a key to success in America!  Who knew? 

[Torie]

Well one factor might be that Mormons were relatively poor back then as compared to now. I was in Utah around 1960, and the last time about three years ago. The transformation was just amazing to me (e.g. the road from St George to Mountain Meadows for what seemed like 15 miles or so, was festooned with huge homes, after one got past the massive golf course communities in what was once but a pit stop to get gas and food, and perhaps stay the night at a motel). Now, perhaps, the current trends are swinging the pendulum back.

And given how Protestants treated them, they had no reason to think a Catholic was a threat to the "American way of life" either. Heck, a guy I worked with as a young lawyer who was a born again Christian referred to them as a "Satanic cult." I literally said to him, "What?" It was that bizarre of a comment to my ears.

Yeah, without seeing the post above, I just added exactly what he said. Great minds think alike!

That's really interesting. What do you think were the reasons for that change in economic standing?

Computers! Tech and software engineers for some reason are fields that Mormons have been attracted to. Also hard work and a healthy life style, and a very solid support network for their flock via church institutions which due to the tithe that is very well adhered to, are very well funded.

Man, now dpmapper beat me to it, I see. So I will be known as Torie the plagiarizer!

[Diabolical Materialism]

Well one factor might be that Mormons were relatively poor back then as compared to now. I was in Utah around 1960, and the last time about three years ago. The transformation was just amazing to me (e.g. the road from St George to Mountain Meadows for what seemed like 15 miles or so, was festooned with huge homes, after one got past the massive golf course communities in what was once but a pit stop to get gas and food, and perhaps stay the night at a motel). Now, perhaps, the current trends are swinging the pendulum back.

And given how Protestants treated them, they had no reason to think a Catholic was a threat to the "American way of life" either. Heck, a guy I worked with as a young lawyer who was a born again Christian referred to them as a "Satanic cult." I literally said to him, "What?" It was that bizarre of a comment to my ears.

Yeah, without seeing the post above, I just added exactly what he said. Great minds think alike!

That's really interesting. What do you think were the reasons for that change in economic standing?

Computers! Tech and software engineers for some reason are fields that Mormons have been attracted to. Also hard work and a healthy life style, and a very solid support network for their flock via church institutions which due to the tithe that is very well adhered to, are very well funded.

Interesting. Is there a big tech industry in Utah? I always wondered why the heck people would live in Salt Lake City if they weren't Mormon.

That's really interesting. What do you think were the reasons for that change in economic standing?

Turns out having stable two-parent families and not doing drugs and alcohol is a key to success in America!  Who knew? 

Ha. ha. ha.

[Torie]

Yes, indeed. Huntsman for example was a tech mogul.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Perhaps due to Catholics/Mormons sharing the fact they were both persecuted by Protestants?

They weren't? Mormons mostly lived in a near theocracy dominated by them. Catholics had no legal discrimination against them (unlike blacks in the South at the time who were actually persecuted.)

[dpmapper]

Perhaps due to Catholics/Mormons sharing the fact they were both persecuted by Protestants?

They weren't? Mormons mostly lived in a near theocracy dominated by them. Catholics had no legal discrimination against them (unlike blacks in the South at the time who were actually persecuted.)

You might want to look up why the Mormons moved to Utah in the first place. 

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Perhaps due to Catholics/Mormons sharing the fact they were both persecuted by Protestants?

They weren't? Mormons mostly lived in a near theocracy dominated by them. Catholics had no legal discrimination against them (unlike blacks in the South at the time who were actually persecuted.)

You might want to look up why the Mormons moved to Utah in the first place. 

That was well before 1960.

[RINO Tom]

Perhaps due to Catholics/Mormons sharing the fact they were both persecuted by Protestants?

They weren't? Mormons mostly lived in a near theocracy dominated by them. Catholics had no legal discrimination against them (unlike blacks in the South at the time who were actually persecuted.)

You might want to look up why the Mormons moved to Utah in the first place. 

That was well before 1960.

Feelings have been known to linger.

[darklordoftech]

That's really interesting. What do you think were the reasons for that change in economic standing?

Turns out having stable two-parent families and not doing drugs and alcohol is a key to success in America!  Who knew? 

That’s always been the case with Mormoms, so that doesn’t explain why they were worse off in 1960.

[dpmapper]

That's really interesting. What do you think were the reasons for that change in economic standing?

Turns out having stable two-parent families and not doing drugs and alcohol is a key to success in America!  Who knew? 

That’s always been the case with Mormoms, so that doesn’t explain why they were worse off in 1960.

Their advantage in family stability became more pronounced due to the sexual revolution in the 60's. 

[Mr. Smith]

Perhaps due to Catholics/Mormons sharing the fact they were both persecuted by Protestants?

They weren't? Mormons mostly lived in a near theocracy dominated by them. Catholics had no legal discrimination against them (unlike blacks in the South at the time who were actually persecuted.)

Forgetting about the history of Missouri and Illinois already then. Well, you always were very born-again-ish anyway.

[Stuart98]

Well one factor might be that Mormons were relatively poor back then as compared to now. I was in Utah around 1960, and the last time about three years ago. The transformation was just amazing to me (e.g. the road from St George to Mountain Meadows for what seemed like 15 miles or so, was festooned with huge homes, after one got past the massive golf course communities in what was once but a pit stop to get gas and food, and perhaps stay the night at a motel). Now, perhaps, the current trends are swinging the pendulum back.

And given how Protestants treated them, they had no reason to think a Catholic was a threat to the "American way of life" either. Heck, a guy I worked with as a young lawyer who was a born again Christian referred to them as a "Satanic cult." I literally said to him, "What?" It was that bizarre of a comment to my ears.

Yeah, without seeing the post above, I just added exactly what he said. Great minds think alike!

That's really interesting. What do you think were the reasons for that change in economic standing?

Computers! Tech and software engineers for some reason are fields that Mormons have been attracted to. Also hard work and a healthy life style, and a very solid support network for their flock via church institutions which due to the tithe that is very well adhered to, are very well funded.

Interesting. Is there a big tech industry in Utah? I always wondered why the heck people would live in Salt Lake City if they weren't Mormon.

Very big, sort of a mini-silicon valley. Silicon Slopes is what it's called.

[The Houstonian]

That's really interesting. What do you think were the reasons for that change in economic standing?

Turns out having stable two-parent families and not doing drugs and alcohol is a key to success in America!  Who knew? 

With Mormons it's more than two parents.

[TDAS04]

Al Smith overperformed in Utah as well.

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

Al Smith overperformed in Utah as well.

And Biden did well too.

Mormon-Catholic solidarity I guess?

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

Al Smith overperformed in Utah as well.

And Biden did well too.

Mormon-Catholic solidarity I guess?

We stand in solidarity with our LDS brethren against Proddy oppression!

More seriously, it may be just a coincidence. The fourth and last Catholic major party presidential nominee, John Kerry, was absolutely thrashed in Utah in 2004.

[Alcibiades]

Al Smith overperformed in Utah as well.

And Biden did well too.

Mormon-Catholic solidarity I guess?

We stand in solidarity with our LDS brethren against Proddy oppression!

More seriously, it may be just a coincidence. The fourth and last Catholic major party presidential nominee, John Kerry, was absolutely thrashed in Utah in 2004.

Yeah, I think the reasons Biden and JFK did well are completely unrelated. Biden benefitted from educational trends, while JFK may have done well because of some solidarity of the oppressed thing, but more likely simply because Utah was a far less Republican state then with ancestral Democrat influence lingering on. I mean, there would have been no reason to think that JFK couldn’t have been reasonably competitive there - it had voted Democrat in the last competitive election (1948), had a Democratic senator and state legislature, and sent two Democrats to both of its House seats. By contrast, with Kerry, the early 2000s were probably the peak of GOP domination in the interior West.

[TDAS04]

Hardly anyone voted for or against Kerry or Biden because of Catholicism.  It was entirely different with Smith and Kennedy, who turned off many Protestants, while attracting much enthusiasm from Catholics.  It appears that minority solidarity in 1928 and 1960 also impacted the Mormon and Jewish votes, to some extent.

[Wikipedia delenda est]

Perhaps due to Catholics/Mormons sharing the fact they were both persecuted by Protestants?

Persecuted is a huge exaggeration. Yes there was some discrimination against Catholics, but unlike Catholic countries in Europe America was founded on religious freedom and never burnt people at the stake.