Interesting analysis from the Washington Post:
[O]ver six in 10 said Mormonism is “very different” from their religion; that is almost as many as said Islam is very different.Keep in mind that a lot of evangelicals - aka the religious right - don't think Catholics are Christians. Imagine how they really feel about Mormons, but might not be willing to tell a pollster.
More than a third of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents said Mormonism is not a Christian religion in the Pew survey. And while only 14 percent of Republicans who believe Mormonism is a Christian religion say they are “less likely” to support a Mormon, that jumps to 40 percent of those who say the religion does not match up to Christianity. For the record, both Romney and Mormons see themselves as Christians.
The criticism that Mormons are not Christians appears to have legs as an attack on Romney, according to John C. Green, a political science professor at the University of Akron. In a survey experiment, Green and his colleagues gave some voters a short biographical description of Romney, while others read his biography along with the fact that he was a local leader in the Mormon Church. They found that voters who read about his involvement in the Mormon Church said they were less likely to vote for him than those who hadn’t read that information. This effect was largest among those who said that Mormons are not Christians.
