January 23, 2012, First Coast News, Does Romney's Religion Have an Impact on Voters?,

January 23, 2012, First Coast News, Does Romney's Religion Have an Impact on Voters?, 

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Mitt Romney's decline in South Carolina has some wondering if religion has anything to do with it. So we took the case to local Mormons.

"I believe in Christ," said Monice Livsey.

It's a simple statement, but one that Monica Livsey said perplexes some people when they learn she's Mormon. The Livseys moved to Jacksonville from Utah nine years ago with their two kids.

"When people ask me the question and we talk about it, it can be a really nice way to discuss our beliefs and that's what we're after," she said.

Now, Mitt Romney has Mormonism and religion at center stage.

MORE: Gingrich Staffer Resigns after Mormon Comments

"I think it's great that we have a profile with Gov. Romney and a lot of people talk about the church and it opens dialogue about the church. But we don't vote as a block as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints," Laury Livsey said.

The Census no longer asks people about religion, but directs people to the American Religious Identification Survey. It shows that 57,000,000 Americans identify as Catholic, and 36,000,000 as Baptist. Rankingfurther downon the list -- Mormons, with about 3.1million.

In Jacksonville, Joel Warner said there are about 12,000 Mormons, and sometimes they have to respond to vocal critics like a Baptist pastor in Dallas.

"They have their own human founder, Joseph Smith, their own set of doctrines and their own religious book outside of the Bible, the book of Mormon. That makes them a theological cult by definition," Robert Jeffress said.

"I am old enough to remember when John Kennedy was elected president. And there were some people that said now the Pope's going to run the country. And that was silly. Mitt Romney will be Mitt Romney," Joel Warner, a Jacksonville Mormon, said.