http://www.nationalreview.com/node/423143/print Jeb and Rubio Battle for Vital Mormon Support in Nevada
By Alexis Levinson — August 27, 2015
The race for the Mormon vote is on.
In 2008 and 2012, Mitt Romney’s unprecedented mobilization of LDS voters helped propel him to an important early victory in Nevada’s caucuses. This time around, no one candidate is likely to dominate the Mormon vote the way Romney did, because none of them are running to be the first Mormon president. But several candidates, most notably Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush, are nevertheless making concerted efforts to woo LDS voters, enticed by their reliable turnout in the first-in-the-west caucuses, which could be crucial as Republican candidates seek a path to the nomination in a historically crowded primary field.
“If you’ve never visited Nevada and just read national media accounts, you might believe that every Nevada voter was Mormon. And you might believe that the only reason that Romney won was because of Mormons,” says Ryan Erwin, who led Romney’s Nevada efforts in 2008 and 2012 and is working for Bush’s team in the state this cycle.
In fact, Mormons make up just four percent of Nevada’s population, but according to one entry poll, they accounted for 25 percent of the state’s Republican caucusgoers in 2012. And while LDS voters were certainly not the only reason Romney won Nevada, they were a big help: Eighty-eight percent of those who caucused supported Romney in 2012.
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