Henderson: Could faith fell Romney?

Column

Of all the factoids from Tuesday's Republican primary, one of the biggest eyebrow-raisers was this little jewel: Newt Gingrich prevailed among evangelical Christians.

According to a Fox News exit poll, Gingrich had 38 percent to Mitt Romney's 36 percent in that category. Since Romney won by 15 points in the overall vote, a number like that is hard to ignore.

It gets more interesting when you see that Gingrich's strongest showing came in the Panhandle, which is more conservative.

Since you figure Christians weren't turned off by Gingrich's well-vetted personal issues with fidelity, what could it be? Maybe they see Romney as a silver-spoon guy to whom it's hard to relate.

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Or, Romney's Mormon faith may be more of an issue with evangelicals than his supporters care to admit.

"You'd think (Christians) would not support someone who has broken every commandment, or in the case of marriage broke it twice, but they did," University of South Florida political expert J. Edwin Benton said of Gingrich.

"You have to ask yourself why that is. The Mormon factor, although it's not politically correct to talk about, is there."

It's hard to disagree. Maybe it's only background chatter at this point, but in a race where everything about a candidate is open to public scrutiny, it can't be ignored. This isn't the first time faith has been an issue in a national election.

Some hard-line evangelicals refuse to acknowledge Mormonism as a Christian faith, which raises the stakes from what John F. Kennedy faced as a Catholic in 1960. That's what makes Tuesday's exit polling interesting. With Florida likely to be a swing state, this could turn into a big deal.

Or not.

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Former state Sen. John Grant, a Gingrich supporter, attends Idlewild Baptist Church in north Tampa. When I spoke with him Wednesday, he acknowledged "evangelicals simply aren't going to wrap their arms around Romney."

He said it was more a matter of policy though, not religious backlash.

"I told someone I wouldn't vote for Romney because he's a Mormon, but I wouldn't vote against him because of that either," Grant said. "People are becoming more tolerant of other people's religions."

With a broad brush that's probably true, especially given Romney's 42-year marriage. You'd hope people would see a dedicated family man who has honored his marriage vows and base their choice on whether they like his policies.

That doesn't account for pockets of resistance, though, which the exit polling seems to indicate are there. It could be important in a close race.

"There will be some who might just sit out the election," Benton said. "I grew up in South Carolina and we were an evangelical Christian home, and in 1960 my parents wouldn't vote for JFK just because he was Catholic. I know times have changed, but a lot of those same people still won't vote for a Mormon."

Based on what we saw in Tuesday's vote, we will find out if that's still true in November.