Religion, Bias, and Political Debate

On the NY Times Bloggingheads, Jeff Sharlet of Dartmouth College and Amy Sullivan of Time Magazine examine anti-Muslim bias as a factor in American political culture with the recent N.H. Republican presidential candidate debate. The LA Times reports that a new Gallup poll demonstrates lingering bias toward Mormon candidates as former Utah governor and Ambassador to China John Huntsman is poised to join the Republican candidate pool.  The LA Times summarizes the poll’s findings:

 About one in five Republicans, or 18%, said they would not vote for a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the official name of the Mormon church. About the same proportion of independents said they would oppose a Mormon while a larger number of Democrats, about 27%, said they were opposed, according to the poll. 

JFB