Politics
| Year | Republican | Democrat |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 72.80% 671,747 | 24.90% 229,463 |
| 2008 | 62.25% 596,030 | 34.22% 327,670 |
| 2004 | 71.54% 663,742 | 26.00% 241,199 |
| 2000 | 66.83% 515,096 | 26.34% 203,053 |
| 1996 | 54.37% 361,911 | 33.30% 221,633 |
| 1992 | 43.36% 322,632 | 24.65% 183,429 |
| 1988 | 66.22% 428,442 | 32.05% 207,343 |
| 1984 | 74.50% 469,105 | 24.68% 155,369 |
| 1980 | 72.77% 439,687 | 20.57% 124,266 |
| 1976 | 62.44% 337,908 | 33.65% 182,110 |
| 1972 | 67.64% 323,643 | 26.39% 126,284 |
| 1968 | 56.49% 238,728 | 37.07% 156,665 |
| 1964 | 45.14% 180,682 | 54.86% 219,628 |
| 1960 | 54.81% 205,361 | 45.17% 169,248 |
In the late 19th century, the federal government took issue with polygamy in the LDS Church. The LDS Church discontinued plural marriage in 1890, and in 1896 Utah gained admission to the Union. Many new people settled the area soon after the Mormon pioneers. Relations have often been strained between the LDS population and the non-LDS population. These tensions have played a large part in Utah's history (Liberal Party vs. People's Party).
Both of Utah's U.S. Senators, Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee, are Republican. Two more Republicans, Rob Bishop and Jason Chaffetz, as well as one member of the Democratic Party, Jim Matheson, represent Utah in the United States House of Representatives. After Jon Huntsman, Jr., resigned to serve as U.S. Ambassador to China, Gary Herbert was sworn in as governor on August 11, 2009.
The LDS Church maintains an official policy of neutrality with regard to political parties and candidates.
Utah votes predominately Republican. Self-identified Latter-day Saints are more likely to vote for the Republican ticket than non-Mormons, and Utah is one of the most Republican states in the nation.
In the 1970s, then-Apostle Ezra Taft Benson was quoted by the Associated Press that it would be difficult for a faithful Latter-day Saint to be a liberal Democrat. Although the LDS Church has officially repudiated such statements on many occasions, Democratic candidates—including LDS Democrats—believe that Republicans capitalize on the perception that the Republican Party is doctrinally superior. Political scientist and pollster Dan Jones explains this disparity by noting that the national Democratic Party is associated with liberal positions on gay marriage and abortion, both of which the LDS Church is against. The Republican Party in heavily Mormon Utah County presents itself as the superior choice for Latter-day Saints. Even though Utah Democratic candidates are predominantly LDS, socially conservative, and pro-life, no Democrat has won in Utah County since 1994.
David Magleby, dean of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Brigham Young University, a lifelong Democrat and a political analyst, asserts that the Republican Party actually has more conservative positions than the LDS Church. Magleby argues that the locally conservative Democrats are in better accord with LDS doctrine. For example, the Republican Party of Utah opposes almost all abortions while Utah Democrats take a more liberal approach, although more conservative than their national counterparts. On Second Amendment issues, the state GOP has been at odds with the LDS Church position opposing concealed firearms in places of worship and in public spaces.
In 1998 the church expressed concern that Utahns perceived the Republican Party as an LDS institution and authorized lifelong Democrat and Seventy Marlin Jensen to promote LDS bipartisanship.
Utah is much more conservative than the United States as a whole, particularly on social issues. Compared to other Republican-dominated states in the Mountain West such as Wyoming, Utah politics have a more moralistic and less libertarian character according to David Magleby.
| Year | Republican | Democratic |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 68.4% 624,678 | 27.7% 253,514 |
| 2008 | 77.6% 734,049 | 19.7% 186,503 |
| 2004 | 57.7% 531,190 | 41.4% 380,359 |
| 2000 | 56.0% 422,357 | 43.0% 320,141 |
| 1996 | 75.0% 503,693 | 23.3% 156,616 |
| Year | Republican | Democratic |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 32% 114,097 | 66% 233,655 |
| 2004 | 44% 144,928 | 48% 157,287 |
| 2000 | 52% 158,787 | 47% 144,011 |
| Year | Republican | Democratic |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 69% 626,640 | 28% 258,955 |
| 1998 | 64% 316,652 | 33% 163,172 |
| Year | Republican | Democratic |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 63% 356,238 | 31% 177,459 |
| 2000 | 66% 501,925 | 32% 241,129 |
About 80% of Utah's Legislature are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, while they account for 61 percent of the population. Since becoming a state in 1896, Utah has had only two non-Mormon governors.
In 2006, the legislature passed legislation aimed at banning joint-custody for a non-biological parent of a child. The custody measure passed the legislature and was vetoed by the governor, a reciprocal benefits supporter.
Carbon County's Democrats are generally made up of members of the large Greek, Italian, and Southeastern European communities, whose ancestors migrated in the early 20th century to work in the extensive mining industry. The views common amongst this group are heavily influenced by labor politics, particularly of the New Deal Era.
The Democrats of Summit County are the by-product of the migration of wealthy families from California in the 1990s to the ski resort town of Park City; their views are generally supportive of the economic policies favored by unions and the social policies favored by the liberals.
The state's most Republican areas tend to be Utah County, which is the home to Brigham Young University in the city of Provo, and nearly all the rural counties. These areas generally hold socially conservative views in line with that of the national Religious Right.
The state has not voted for a Democrat for president since 1964. Historically, Republican presidential nominees score one of their best margins of victory here. Utah was the Republicans' best state in the 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1996, 2000, and 2004 elections. In 1992, Utah was the only state in the nation where Democratic candidate Bill Clinton finished behind both Republican candidate George H. W. Bush and Independent candidate Ross Perot. In 2004, Republican George W. Bush won every county in the state and Utah gave him his largest margin of victory of any state. He won the state's five electoral votes by a margin of 46 percentage points with 71.5% of the vote. In the 1996 Presidential elections the Republican candidate received a smaller 54% of the vote while the Democrat earned 34%.
Further information: Political party strength in UtahRead more about this topic: Climate Of Utah, Law and Government
Famous quotes containing the word politics:
“I think the Senate ought to realize that I have to have about me those in whom I have confidence; and unless they find a real blemish on a man, I do not think they ought to make partisan politics out of appointments to the Cabinet.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)
“There is a place where we are always alone with our own mortality, where we must simply have something greater than ourselves to hold onto—God or history or politics or literature or a belief in the healing power of love, or even righteous anger.... A reason to believe, a way to take the world by the throat and insist that there is more to this life than we have ever imagined.”
—Dorothy Allison (b. 1949)
“The one thing sure about politics is that what goes up comes down and what goes down often comes up.”
—Richard M. Nixon (1913–1995)