Why Are Mormons More Asininely Stupid than Catholics?

[Rivendale]

Transubstantiation isn't so far removed from a seer stone.

[Moksha]

Transubstantiation isn't so far removed from a seer stone.

Transubstantiation is an abstract concept. You can load the seer stone into a slingshot. LDS Authorities point out that the Seer Stone is much like their iPhones.

[Rivendale]

Transubstantiation isn't so far removed from a seer stone.

Transubstantiation is an abstract concept. You can load the seer stone into a slingshot. LDS Authorities point out that the Seer Stone is much like their iPhones.

From my understanding many believe that the actual cracker/wafer actually changes chemical consistency upon consumption. But then you have the LDS equivalent of having the actual blood change its composition upon getting a patriarchal blessing. It looks like a tie.

[Chap]

From my understanding many believe that the actual cracker/wafer actually changes chemical consistency upon consumption.

I don't think any Catholic theologian would see that as implied by the doctrine of transubstantiation.

[Philo Sofee]

Since only total gawdamned ignorant frickin' morons believe that the election was stolen from Trump, that makes 46% (nearly half) of all Mormons freaking idiotic fools. What is it that makes Mos so much frickin' stupider than Catholics?

Just 3 words - "Follow the Prophet"

[Don Bradley]

Why Are Mormons More Asininely Stupid than Catholics?  
46% of Latter-day Saints believe the “Big Lie” while among Catholics only 35% believe the "Big Lie".
https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2021/05 ... nd-oh-say/

according to recent data from PRRI (Public Religion Research Institute) U.S. Latter-day Saints:
• Are more inclined than other religious followers — save for white evangelical Protestants — to believe the false narrative that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump. Yes, 46% of Latter-day Saints believe the “big lie,” behind only white evangelical Protestants (61%) and ahead of white mainline Protestants (37%) and white Catholics (35%).

Nomomo,

Suppose we looked at the statistics on how many Republicans believe the Big Lie vs. how many Democrats believe it. What would you expect to find? Take a sec to think about that.

What we would find - which I'm sure is exactly what you predicted - is that a majority of Republicans believe it--about 65%--while a negligible number of Democrats do. (In fact, I've yet to find a study that cites any significant percentage of Democrats believing the Big Lie.)

Now, let's note how many people in these religious groupings are Republican/Republican-leaning, and then we can compare that with the statistics you cite above:

Republican/Republican-leaning:

White evangelical Protestants: 78%
Latter-day Saints: 74%
White mainline Protestants: 54%
White Catholics: 48%

https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/20 ... rtisanship

White evangelical Protestants tend to believe the Republican candidate's election fraud claims because they are overwhelmingly Republicans. Non-evangelical white Protestants tend to believe Trump's lies less because they are less likely to be Republicans. Similarly, Catholics believe Trump's election lies still less because they are still less likely to be Republicans.

Thus, the reason that more members of certain religious groups believed election fraud claims by the Republican candidate is that more members of those groups are Republicans. And the reason that fewer members of certain religious groups believed election fraud claims by the Republican candidate is that fewer members of those groups are Republicans.

Alongside acknowledging the pernicious character of Trump's election lies, it also to be acknowledged that--realistically--opinions on claims of this nature tend strongly to break down on partisan political lines. For instance, after the 2000 election, a majority of Democrats, but not Republicans, thought George W. Bush had not been legitimately elected. And, similarly, after the 2016 election, a majority of Democrats, but no Republicans, thought Donald Trump had not been legitimately elected.

With that reality in mind, let's look again at the statistics you cited:

*White evangelical Protestants: 78% are Republican; and 61% of white Evangelicals believed Trump's fraud claims 
- 61% divided by 78% is (coincidentally) 78%, meaning that 78% of white Evangelical conservatives believed Trump's lie

*Latter-day Saints: 74% are Republican; 46% of them believed Trump's fraud claims - 62%
- Thus, 62% of Latter-day Saint conservatives believed Trump's lie

*White mainline Protestants: 54% are Republican; 37% of them believed Trump's fraud claims 
- Thus, 69% of white mainline Protestants believed Trump's lie

*White Catholics: 48% are Republicans; 35% of them believed Trump's fraud claims 
- Thus, 73% of white Catholic conservatives believed Trump's lie

The question in the OP has been answered:

It's quite clear why more Latter-day Saints believed the Republican candidate than did white Catholics - because more Latter-day Saints than white Catholics are Republicans.

Now that question needs to be turned on its head to raise a much more interesting question: 

Why did far fewer Latter-day Saint Republicans (62%) believe the Republican candidate's election lie than did white Catholic Republicans (73%), white mainline Protestant Republicans (69%), and white evangelical Republicans (78%)? 

Notably, among the few Republicans to resist Donald Trump's attempts to interfere in our election system are Mormon Republicans--among them Rep. Rusty Bowers, Sen. Jeff Flake, and most notably Mitt Romney: the first United States Senator in history to vote against party lines in a presidential impeachment.

So, reworking the OP question in line with the statistics above and in light of Mormon Republican leaders taking the strongest stand against Trump and his 2016 and 2020 attempts to subvert our elections, we might also phrase our new question:

Why are Mormon Republicans less extreme or less gullible--or maybe just more honest--than white Catholic, mainline, and evangelical Republicans?

Don

[drumdude]

Mormon Republican leaders taking the strongest stand against Trump and his 2016 and 2020 attempts to subvert our elections

Did church leaders weigh in on this issue?

There are plenty of Mormons who disagree vehemently with Mitt Romney's politics.

[Don Bradley]

Why Are Mormons More Asininely Stupid than Catholics?
46% of Latter-day Saints believe the “Big Lie” while among Catholics only 35% believe the "Big Lie".
https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2021/05 ... nd-oh-say/

Rather than jump to the conclusion that the difference in those numbers is that Mormons are "more asininely stupid than Catholics", what are some other plausible explanations? Are Mormons more skeptical of the system than Catholics? Do Mormons tend to believe conspiracy theories more than Catholics? Is it due to where the highest concentrations of each are primarily located (Catholics in New Jersey and Massachusetts; Mormons in Utah, Idaho and Wyoming)?

Nimrod, yes, you're very much barking up the right tree. There is something quite different between Mormons and Catholics - Mormons are much more likely to be Republicans and therefore more likely to watch Republican supporting media and believe things they are told by Republican candidates.

It has, as you observe, nothing to do with intelligence. Indeed, the fact that Latter-day Saint Republicans are significantly *less* likely than other religious conservatives to believe the Republican candidate's lies would tend to speak well of their intelligence, not poorly.

Don

[huckelberry]

....
What we would find - which I'm sure is exactly what you predicted - is that a majority of Republicans believe it--about 65%--while a negligible number of Democrats do. (In fact, I've yet to find a study that cites any significant percentage of Democrats believing the Big Lie.)......

a majority of Democrats, but no Republicans, thought Donald Trump had not been legitimately elected.

....With that reality in mind, let's look again at the statistics you cited:......
Why are Mormon Republicans less extreme
or less gullible--or maybe just more honest--than white Catholic, mainline, and evangelical Republicans?

Don

Don three things come to my mind about your post. First I think you are being reasonable in pointing out howng political attachment largely determining who Trump can manipulate. I am enough horrified by evangelical debasement of themselves that I can see ways some LDS have shown more respectable responsibility. God bless them.

Third the only people I have ever heard propose Democrates thought Trump was not legitimated elected were Republican shills. I know democrates were unhappy that he won with a minority of the popular vote but people understood the law and the electoral college. That does not mean they were happy about it but they recognized the legal reality. People were also unhappy with Russian assistance in the election but that did not make the election eligitimate though fox pretends that democrates claims so.

[Marcus]

...So, reworking the OP question in line with the statistics above and in light of Mormon Republican leaders taking the strongest stand against Trump and his 2016 and 2020 attempts to subvert our elections, we might also phrase our new question:

Why are Mormon Republicans less extreme or less gullible--or maybe just more honest--than white Catholic, mainline, and evangelical Republicans?...

"just more honest"? this is why statistics get such a bad rap. Don, this is a flagrant misuse of statistical data. There is a difference between causation and correlation and i cringe every time i read analyses such as this.