Conservative bent of Utah favors GOP
ST. GEORGE, Utah -- There aren't many states on a political map redder than Utah.
The state's voters gave George W. Bush 71.5% of the vote in 2004, the highest percent in the nation. Four years earlier, they gave Bush 66.8%. That was the third-highest, behind only Wyoming and Idaho.
Utah voters have not given a majority of their votes to a Democratic candidate since President Lyndon Johnson's landslide victory over Sen. Barry Goldwater in 1964.
That's unlikely to change this year. According to a statewide poll by Dan Jones & Associates, conducted Sept. 8-11, Republican presidential nominee John McCain leads Democratic nominee Barack Obama 62%-24% among registered voters.
Obama supporters in Utah understand their candidate has almost no chance of winning the state's five electoral votes. There are 639,161 registered Republicans in Utah, according to state figures, compared with 136,891 registered Democrats. Even so, Democrats say they do not expect McCain to retain Bush's high marks from four years ago.
"I personally think that Utahans have much more in common with Sen. Obama than they do with Sen. McCain in terms of values," says James McMahon of Brookside, an independent who says he gravitated toward Obama early.
Utah Democrats know that recruiting supporters means starting small and often staying there.
Just a handful of people attended the first meeting to organize southern Utah supporters at a local coffee shop May 28, McMahon says. A few weeks later, a barbecue in a St. George park drew about 100, he says. Nevertheless, volunteers such as Lindsey Witt of St. George remain determined.
"I'm voting for someone I think can really make a difference," Witt says. "Even though my vote may not be counted, I think it will be heard."
Utah is a state where conservative politics are often linked to its deeply religious population, a majority of whom are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Jeff Eastwood, 51, of Toquerville, a member of the LDS Church who supports McCain, says he thinks Utah will probably remain a Republican stronghold because of the state's predominant religion.
