Romney’s ties to Mormonism not good for the polls

Mitt Romney has a problem. Many evangelical Christians will be reluctant to vote for him, because of his Mormon faith. With the Iowa caucus less than two months away and the presidential election fast approaching, Romney faces criticism from the Tea Party voters and evangelicals.

After a fall of campaign collapses, from Michelle Bachmann to Rick Perry, and the continuation of Herman Cain's flopping, it would appear that Romney carries a stiff lead over his rivals by now.

And yet this is clearly not that case; he cannot get past 25 percent in most primary polls. Now there is the steady rise of Newt Gingrich. The only three candidates who haven't landed in the top tier are libertarian Ron Paul, the perhaps reasonable- yet suspiciously moderate Jon Huntsman, and the desperate for attention and darling of the conservative Catholics, Rick Santorum. If Romney does indeed become the GOP nominee, he will need every Republican vote to beat President Obama, which includes the conservative Christian evangelicals.

Romney has not been very outspoken about his Mormon faith, perhaps because unlike the pool of other candidates he sees a clear separation of church and state. Maybe it is because he knows that evangelicals will be reluctant to vote for a Mormon.

It is somewhat of an enigma, how conservative talk show host Glenn Beck, who is also a Mormon, manages to please many evangelical Christians. Yes he is much more conservative, and emotional, than Romney, but is it because he is not running for public office?

Conservative Christians may agree with Romney and Beck on social issues, but there is an inherent suspicion of Mormonism in conservative Christian circles. For example, prominent The Christian right will not separate church and state. According to an Associated Press poll, 19 percent of Republicans say they are less likely to vote for a Mormon.

Will Christian conservatives vote for Mormon Romney over Christian Obama? According to DePaul University Professor of Religious Studies Scott Paeth, yes.

"Obama belongs to a Christian church, he is able to speak knowledgeably on many factors of the Christian tradition, but these Christian conservatives are the same people who say the pope isn't a Christian. Because Obama does not walk lock step in their narrow view of Christianity they are suspicious," Paeth said.

Paeth believes that the accusation of Otherness gets applied to Barack Obama. "They say things like he's not really American, he's not a real Christian."

On the other hand, it seems most Americans find it disturbing when candidates run on a religious agenda, except evangelicals. According to the Pew Research Center, 52 percent of Americans find the government is too involved in morality, while only 41 percent of evangelicals do. Thus, Romney's faith poses a problem for the GOP.

If Romney can't distance himself from his Mormon faith, he has slim to no chance of taking the GOP nomination, let alone the presidency.