Non-Mormons' opinions of LDS church isn't helped by knowing Mormons

[Alphus and Omegus]

"Non-Mormons who know someone who is Mormon not only are more likely than those who don’t to express a favorable view toward Mormons (19% vs. 10%), but also are more likely to express an unfavorable view (31% vs. 22%)."



Every member a missionary has completely backfired.

ETA: Changed headline to make more clear.

[Marcus]

i don't know where else to put this, but seriously, peterson is a one man effort to destroy mormons' reputations...

...You won't care, of course, but you're talking to people here whose church has no professional clergy.

[Alphus and Omegus]

Peterson seems to be the kind of Mormon who would make non-Mormons dislike the faith more.

But he's so arrogant and insufferable that he can't see that.

[Doctor Steuss]

My brain is having trouble with the graphic for some reason.

So, Jews, Atheists, and Muslims are the only groups (of those listed) where knowing a person in that group results in a reduction in unfavorable opinion of the group? Or am I confusing it?

[Rivendale]

The SLT article has a quote...

“When I think about the church through the lens of the last several years, a slump in public perception is not surprising to me,” says Susan M. Hinckley, a co-podcaster on “At Last She Said It,” which tackles topics within the faith. “There have been a handful of popular streaming series featuring true-crime stories or ‘why I left’ narratives. Incidents of sexual abuse have brought national news attention. We’ve seen Mitt Romney’s political fall from grace. Many LGBTQ members, their families and allies are publicly reexamining or reconsidering membership. And the church continues to lag on social issues many people care about.”

But they have a high opinion about themselves!

[Dr Moore]

As I read the data, it suggests that knowing a Mormon results in equal parts positive and negative incremental opinions of the group. Not great, but not all negative or even a net negative. Am I missing something?

[Alphus and Omegus]

It is both harmed and hurt. So I corrected the topic headline here to reflect that.

The net effect is zero. And Mormonism is the only faith group with no net positive from knowing one.

[Res Ipsa]

I really wish Pew would post the sampling error in the captions to their graphs.

[Alphus and Omegus]

I really wish Pew would post the sampling error in the captions to their graphs.

That would be a nice idea. Here is the full report link:

https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/20 ... catholics/

Here is the report's page about methodologies. Excerpt:

Data in this report is drawn from the panel wave conducted Sept. 13-18, 2022. A total of 10,588 panelists responded out of 11,687 who were sampled, for a response rate of 91%. The cumulative response rate accounting for nonresponse to the recruitment surveys and attrition is 3%. The break-off rate among panelists who logged on to the survey and completed at least one item is 1%. The margin of sampling error for the full sample of 10,588 respondents is plus or minus 1.5 percentage points.

[Nimrod]

As compared to non knowing any Mormon, those knowing a Mormon report 9 pt improvement in somewhat/very favorable opinions (up from 10% to 19%) but also a 9 point increase in somewhat/very unfavorable opinion. So getting to know a Mormon is basically a wash, other than it gave 18% more of those surveyed an opinion.

Contrast that with atheists. As compared to not knowing any atheists, those knowing an atheist report 14 pt improvement in somewhat/very favorable opinions (up from 7% to 21%) and an 8 point decrease in somewhat/very unfavorable opinion. So getting to know an atheist results in a 22 pt (14 pt more favorable plus 8 point less unfavorable) increase for atheists among those surveyed.

Thus, getting to know Mormons, 0, getting to know atheists, 22.

From this, it can be observed that Mormons do not suffer a negative stereotype among those that do not know them, but atheists suffer a 22 percentage point negative stereotype. It seems Mormons' victimization is misplaced, and if any group ought to feel maligned by the prevailing stereotypes it ought to be atheists.