CSED In the News
The Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy regularly provides analysis and commentary for local and national news stories. Please click on any of the following stories to read more.
December 31, 2011
"It is largely 'consistent with how I think a lot of evangelicals see America,' said Quin Monson, a political-science professor at LDS Church-owned Brigham Young University, though 'sometimes the language is different because we don’t talk to each other about it and have developed different terms.' Monson points to Romney’s book No Apology, where he wrote: 'I am one of those who believes America is destined to remain as it has been since the birth of the republic — the brightest hope of the world. And for that belief, I do not apologize.'"
December 15, 2011
"Quin Monson, associate director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy, said it’s hard to gauge whether Liljenquist can tap into the same delegate frustration that led to the ouster of Sen. Bob Bennett last year. 'He’s starting late, and it’s hard to tell who the delegates will be in advance and if they’ll be as grumpy as they were last time,' he said. 'I think Hatch is being more aggressive, he’s had more time to reach out, and it may be that the unhappiness reached its peak with Bennett."
"About 40 percent of the district's voters were registered Republicans, compared to only 10 percent registered as Democrats, according to a 2008 exit poll by the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at Brigham Young University."
November 22, 2011
"But that could change if Romney gets the Republican nomination. Voter preference depends on who else is running, said Quin Monson, associate director for the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at Brigham Young University. 'When voting for a Mormon, context matters,' Monson says. Voters frustrated by the faltering economy and the Obama administration may 'galvanize Republicans around the candidate they think can win a general election,' Monson says."
"In a recent analysis, Brigham Young University political science professor Adam Brown found that the two disagreed on 80 votes during the 2011 legislative session. The number isn't staggering when you consider there were more than 500 votes taken in Utah's House of Representatives during the 2011 session, but it does show the two have their differences."
November 16, 2011
"Brigham Young University political science professor Quin Monson says Huntsman must see a narrow window of opportunity, despite being low in the polls.'His campaign is less of a long shot than it was a month ago. You can't have predicted the disastrous four of five weeks that Herman Cain and Rick Perry have had,' said Monson."
Watch the
complete story.
November 11, 2011
"Kelly Patterson, director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at Brigham Young University, said the million-dollar war chest is considerable, especially in Utah, and candidates always want to be cautious. 'Most politicians never believe they have enough resources to run their campaign, so no matter who you think your opponent is you still raise money and no matter how difficult you think your campaign is going to be, you still raise money and accumulate resources,' Patterson said. The research is mixed, Patterson said, on whether a big campaign account works in deterring other candidates from getting into the race."
November 4, 2011
"Specifically, BYU political scientists Chris Karpowitz, Quin Monson and Kelly Patterson found that voters in the political minority of their neighborhood – those whose vote choices were different than the majority around them – had 30 percent less confidence in the privacy of their ballot."
October 31, 2011
"'When Governor Huntsman was in China serving as ambassador, Governor Romney was flying around the state shoring up support,' said Kelly Patterson, director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. 'By the time Governor Huntsman got serious about his candidacy, many of the people in this area had already chosen sides...' 'That’s part and parcel of the motivations for giving' by Utahans, Patterson said. 'You want to give to somebody who shares your ideals and vision. If you share religion, that’s one more dimension for you to connect with the candidate.'"
"...Jesus was wise enough not to classify Caesar’s economic policy as Christian or not. We should do the same."
October 26, 2011
"Host Steve Goldstein talks to Kirk Adams, former House speaker and member of the LDS church, and BYU political Science professor Quin Monson about the impact faith has on public opinion for two Mormon presidential hopefuls."
Listen to the
audio program here.
October 23, 2011
"Illegal immigration has emerged as a defining issue with remarkable staying power in a GOP presidential race that was expected to be primarily focused on the nation's struggling economy. But while the issue may score points with the GOP, it could alienate the ballooning Hispanic population or hurt the candidates among independents in the general election. We discussed that with political science professors Tim Chambless from the University of Utah and Quin Monson from BYU."
Watch the
program here.
October 20, 2011
"The criticism that Mormons are not Christians appears to have legs as an attack on Romney, according to John C. Green, a political science professor at the University of Akron. In a survey experiment, Green and his colleagues gave some voters a short biographical description of Romney, while others read his biography along with the fact that he was a local leader in the Mormon Church. They
found that voters who read about his involvement in the Mormon Church said they were less likely to vote for him than those who hadn’t read that information. This effect was largest among those who said that Mormons are not Christians."
October 19, 2011
“Predicting an eminent Matheson defeat is difficult, given his past success in a Republican-leaning district, said Quin Monson, assistant director of Brigham Young University's Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy. The map drawn from the 2000 census also combined parts of Salt Lake County with rural Utah, and about 40 percent of the district's voters were registered Republicans, compared to only 10 percent registered Democrats. Most of the registered independents tended to vote for Republicans in races that didn't involve Matheson. ‘My guess is that it's not likely to be too much more Republican, just because it's hard to get more Republican than it already is,’ Monson said. ‘You can only divide Democrats in so many pieces, but they don't go away.’ Matheson is likely to face the same challenges he always has, regardless of which race he decides to join, Monson said. ‘He's got to raise a lot of money and get a lot of Republicans to vote for him, and that's the political reality for Matheson, whether he runs for this district or governor or whatever,’ Monson said.”
October 13, 2011
"Sen. Russell Pearce claims the Mormon Church backs his hardline stance on illegal immigration. Brahm Resnik gets the church response."
"'While religion can influence some voters, the best predictors of voter turn out are education, income and perceived competitiveness of the race,' said Kelly Patterson, a political science professor at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah."
October 10, 2011
"Guy Raz talks to Quin Monson, associate political science professor at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, about what it means to be both Mormon and Republican."
Listen to the
audio program here.
"And political scientist Quin Monson, Associate Professor of Political Science at BYU, said the religion issue may be fading for many Americans. 'There's a lot more pushback this time to the kind of comments that we've heard over the weekend, and I think there's less interest on the part of the media to report it nationally,' Monson said."
Watch the
program here.
September 29,2011
Bushman may be ‘on to something,’ said Quin Monson, Brigham Young University political scientist, though he doubted the LDS system could be much of a model for the nation. Those who sit in LDS councils share underlying goals and assumptions, making it easier to arrive at consensus, Monson said. ‘Being on a council is a pretty congenial experience. It’s not as if there are sharp differences or a lot of shouting.’ Still, he said, there is a tension in Mormon teachings about individual choice versus the faith’s communal ethos. ‘We are working together to build God’s kingdom,’ Monson said. ‘That’s where civility comes in.’
September 27,2011
“‘I’d be surprised if Rick Perry and other campaigns didn’t have someone watching, and maybe even Democrats anticipating that Romney may do well, to look for anything that may be controversial for use later on,’ says Quin Monson, associate director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at Brigham Young University. ‘But I doubt that it will amount to much.’ That’s because conference speeches tend to steer away from political issues, Monson says. The talks also get some prior scrutiny because of the need for translation. Also, officials whose addresses wander into controversial areas might be invited to reconsider what they say. ‘I think they would be even more careful this year,’ Monson says, ‘knowing that they may be watched more closely.’”
September 16,2011
“Quin Monson, associate director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at Brigham Young University, said there are a lot of questions about whether Kirkham can raise the money, master the issues and be disciplined as a candidate to put up a fight against Herbert.‘It comes down to the convention for [Kirkham],’ Monson said. ‘Once Herbert comes out of the convention into a primary, I don’t think Kirkham can beat him unless he’s got individual wealth he’s going to pump into this race.’ Monson said Kirkham’s presence could also force Herbert to run to take conservative stances that might haunt him if a Democrat like U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson gets into the race. Still, his business experience and support in conservative circles would be assets, Monson said. ‘I think that visibility makes him instantly credible in a way that ought to concern Governor Herbert,’ Monson said.”
September 12,2011
“Brigham Young University political scientist Quin Monson suspects that many respondents lumped a lot of groups together under the label of ‘Mormon’ when they answered the polygamy question. But many are thinking about Romney and/or Huntsman when they answer the voter question, he said, and may be thinking those candidates are part of the Mormon group that doesn’t practice polygamy.”
August 23, 2011
“Quin Monson, associate director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at Brigham Young University, said that Chaffetz’s decision not to run for Senate is ‘the best possible news [Hatch] could have.’ ‘It takes his thorniest problem off the table,’ Monson said. ‘I don’t think he’s out of the woods, but there has only been one other serious challenger who has talked about going against him and he hasn’t raised any money.’”
August 22, 2011
“Both the Obama and McCain campaigns, however, provided by Brigham Young University’s Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy (CSED) with a random sample of their under-$200 sponsors, shedding light on the small donors formerly under the FEC’s radar. The survey broke new ground by putting a face to these little guys. Robert Magleby, a senior research fellow with CSED, noted that Obama’s small donors weren’t the political fat cats you’d expect, but tended to be less affluent, degree-holding, young and predominantly female...”
August 15, 2011
“Until this spring, most Utahans assumed Huntsman was an ordinary orthodox Mormon…’It was, ‘Oh, he’s Mormon.’ And that’s it,’ ’’ said Quin Monson, a political scientist at Brigham Young University and a Mormon…But the church, which places a strong emphasis on doctrine, organization, and hierarchy, does not make it easy to be a casual member. ‘It’s hard to be halfway involved and not get sucked in or pushed out,’’ Monson said. ‘If you are showing up at church, you are going to get asked to participate. People are going to say, ‘Hey, can you give a talk at church on Sunday, can you bake a cake for the funeral?’ … And if you keep saying no, it’s uncomfortable.’”
August 7, 2011
“Quin Monson, associate director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at Brigham Young University, said it will take a bold move and some luck for Huntsman to claw his way into being a true contender. ‘He’s been relegated at the moment to the second tier,’ Monson said, ‘and the way out of that wilderness is strong fundraising and dramatic movement by the campaign and probably some good luck — somebody makes a gaffe or does something stupid and he’s there to pick up the pieces…’ ‘I’m not going to comment on Rick. He’s new to the race and we’ll see where it goes,’ Huntsman said. But he said there is enough space for Perry to join the already-crowded GOP field. Monson said Perry’s entry into the race probably doesn’t hurt Huntsman much, because the Texas governor is appealing to a more conservative wing of the party than Huntsman is targeting. Mitt Romney is more of an obstacle than Perry, Monson said.”
August 7, 2011
“Those numbers reflect results that emerged earlier this year when BYU's Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy asked Utah voters to rate political figures on a 1-to-100 favorability scale. Matheson scored 54.1 — ahead of every other Beehive State politician on the survey, including Chaffetz (52.1) and Hatch (48.2)… ‘The magic for Matheson is his consistent ability to attract a substantial proportion of Republican votes,’ said Quin Monson, associate director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy.”
August 1, 2011
‘If his only accomplishment in life were that he was a wealthy businessman, then that wouldn’t be that surprising,’ Brigham Young University political science professor Quin Monson said. ‘But he’s managed to make a successful life for himself in politics…’ ‘I have a hard time actually thinking of detractors,’ Monson said. ‘He doesn’t have too many, unless you go to the far right.’
July 31, 2011
“‘It might be true that Hatch did moderate a little bit – partly because he was in a position of responsibility and leadership that required that he be willing to talk to the other side. But he's certainly dialed that back in recent months,’ says Quin Monson, a political scientist at Brigham Young University. ‘In some ways, it's disappointing and sad that reaching across the aisle has become anathema to Republicans. It makes you wonder where it ends.’”
“‘They came to prominence as governors in a way that is interesting because they’ve switched personas,’ says BYU political-science professor Quin Monson. ‘Huntsman was a very conservative governor and then moderated as he got ready to leave office and was looking toward the national stage. Romney did the exact opposite: To shake the mold from Massachusetts, he had to portray himself as more conservative.’”
July 23, 2011
“‘There's an enormous amount of potential influence Hatch could tout,’ said Kelly Patterson, director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at BYU. ‘The question is whether or not it resonates well, and that has a lot to do with the issue environment at the time…’ The Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy estimates the likelihood of a Republican takeover in the Senate next year as 60 percent to 70 percent.”
July 15, 2011
“Money isn't everything in a campaign, said Quin Monson, associate director of Brigham Young University's Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy. ‘You have to have money to communicate with voters,’ Monson said. ‘But the message and the candidate matter as well…’ ‘If you said it all came from Utah and it was in donations of $100 or less, I'd say, yeah, it's amazing,’ Monson said...’ Monson said Hatch's big haul ‘frees him up to do whatever he needs to do. Money is no object in terms of what he can do to communicate with delegates and voters. He can afford the very best of everything.’”
July 11, 2011
“Quin Monson, associate director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, said the effect of having two credible LDS candidates in the GOP field may be to draw more Mormons into the political process... ‘I think this is a big deal, and it's an especially big deal because they're both highly qualified, attractive, proven candidates with fundraising ability,’ Mr. Monson said. ‘What you see around here is a lot of excitement among students in particular. And they're already at work with both campaigns...’ ‘It's not so much that the church is more or less accepted, it's that you have two well-qualified candidates who happen to be LDS,’ Mr. Monson said. ‘This does suggest that [Mormonism] has arrived as a mainstream topic. But you never know, these things ebb and flow,’ Mr. Monson said. ‘It will be interesting to see what’s happening in 10 years, when there’s no presidential race or show on Broadway.’”
July 6, 2011
Or,
read or
watch the KSL story.
The April 2011 poll by BYU's Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy compared support for the tea party movement in November 2010. Kelly Patterson, center director, said the poll suggests that voters may not like the direction they see the tea party taking the GOP even though they agree with the overall ideals of the movement. ‘It's not just about dissatisfaction any more with the government,’ Patterson said. ‘Now it's about real people, real leaders, real endorsements.’ The poll, posted online at
utahdatapoints.com, showed among all voters, less than half — 46 percent — had a favorable view of the tea party in April 2011, compared to 53 percent in November 2010… ‘What gives the tea party so much of its strength is our caucus system is biased toward the very active and the ideologically committed,’ Patterson said. ‘That's not to say there aren't other segments of the population that you can't mobilize.’ He said the changing views of the tea party could serve as a wake-up call for the less strident members of the Republican Party, who will begin the process of electing new state delegates next spring. Those delegate elections, which will determine which candidates advance out of the party's state convention to the 2012 ballot, ‘will be one very strong indicator of how this party and this movement are negotiating their relationship,’ Patterson said.”
Professor Quin Monson talks about the declining influence of the Tea Party among Utah's independent voters.
Listen to the
program or its
preview here.
“A new Brigham Young University poll suggests
the influence of the tea party is changing, drawing in more Republican supporters and losing Independent support… ‘If Hatch and Chaffetz are closely aligning themselves to the tea party, Matheson has a real opportunity to appeal to those kind of Republicans statewide, just has he has in the 2nd Congressional District,’ says Monson.”
Watch the
complete story.
“A recent poll conducted by Brigham Young University's Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy shows that
overall support for the tea party in Utah has dropped from 53 percent during last year's elections to 46 percent in April. A closer look at the numbers, though, shows that while overall and independent support for the movement has eroded, diehard Republicans are even more committed than before:”
July 5, 2011
“Utah’s independent voters are cooling to the state’s tea party movement, with support dropping by more than half over the last several months, according to a newly released poll. ‘It seems you have Republican candidates making enormous efforts to ingratiate themselves to Republican delegates and primary voters who are aligned with the tea party. While that may work well to get the nomination, it may lead to problems down the road,’ said Quin Monson, associate director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at Brigham Young University, which conducted the poll, released Tuesday…”
See the original analysis on
UtahDataPoints.
July 4, 2011
"Though overt religious bias was a minority phenomenon even in 2008, there are reasons to hope that it will be even less of a factor among the Republican electorate in 2012... "
July 1, 2011
“‘The dollar figure they got to before was unprecedented,’ said Quin Monson, associate director of Brigham Young University's Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy.In the 2008 presidential election, Utahns contributed just under $10 million. More than half that amount, nearly $5.5 million, went to Romney, then the only candidate with Utah ties, including membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Now, with another Mormon in the race who was one of the state's most popular governors, Monson said there's no telling how much more money Utahns will contribute this time around. ‘I think we'll likely be surprised again, just because we have two prominent candidates,’ Monson said. ‘I don't know where that stops.’”
“Quin Monson, a political scientist at LDS Church-owned Brigham Young University, said the statement also may reflect ‘an abundance of caution’ by the Utah-based faith in protecting its tax-exempt, nonprofit status by staying out of partisan politics…’Partisan consequences can lead to an imbalance,’ Monson said. ‘You have a church taking stances on moral issues, and they don’t want to be so one-sided, but they can’t control the platforms of the Democratic and the Republican parties.’”
June 27, 2011
"Discuss the changing dynamic of Congress over the last century with BYU political science professors Quin Monson and Chris Karpowitz."
June 26, 2011
“Quin Monson, director asociado del Centro de Estudios para Elecciones y Democracia en la Universidad Brigham Young, una institución propiedad de la Iglesia mormona, en Provo Utah, anotó que la reciente declaración hace énfasis en ‘un asunto de cimiento moral’ para esa fe. La declaración, explicó, ‘toca el fundamento de cómo nos tratamos unos a otros como hijos de Dios. No dice que el asunto fundamental sea la protección de las fronteras’. El poder que tiene la declaración proviene no por quien la haya emitido, sino por el vasto número de declaraciones de la Iglesia sobre la inmigración que van todas en el mismo sentido, ‘hacia la compasión y civilidad, con un poquito de orden y legalidad’, señaló.”
Try using
Google Translate to read the article in english. Just enter http://www.cronica.com.mx/nota.php?id_nota=588029 in the translate box for an approximate translation.
June 23, 2011
“‘In Utah [state-level races], you can raise what you need from a relatively small number of people because there are no campaign contribution limits,’ said Kelly Patterson, director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at Brigham Young University. ‘Under Utah’s law, you don’t have to work very hard to raise money because you can go to a few individuals or a few corporations and get very large checks,’ he said. On top of that, Huntsman did not have a highly competitive campaign in 2008, so he did not need to raise huge amounts. ‘The federal campaign finance environment is completely different,’ Patterson said…”
June 22, 2011
« Mais les préjugés anti-mormons sont en recul, notamment depuis la campagne de Mitt Romney en 2008, observe Quin Monson, professeur de sciences politiques à l’université Brigham Young, fondée par l’Eglise des derniers saints. «Il est tout à fait possible qu’un mormon soit élu en 2012, assure ce politologue, mormon lui-même. Romney comme Huntsman sont deux candidats crédibles et le sujet dominant de la campagne sera l’économie plutôt que leur confession. Même les républicains qui n’ont pas envie de voter pour un mormon pourraient préférer cela à la perspective de garder Obama quatre ans encore. »
Try using
Google Translate to read the article in english. Just enter http://www.liberation.fr/monde/01012344723-etats-unis-les-mormons-revent- in the translate box for an approximate translation.
June 20, 2011
“‘The problem for Mormons is that we don’t interact outside of the religion very much,’ said Quin Monson, a political scientist at Brigham Young University. ‘Part of that is that we’re a little different, and part of that is we’re a little insular, and part of that is the religion itself is pretty demanding; if you’re in, it can be many hours a week…’”
June 18, 2011
“‘Somebody will probably run,’ predicts Quin Monson, associate director of Brigham Young University’s Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy. But he says it will be akin to convincing a Democrat to run in Republican-ruled Utah County. If no rivals emerge in the next month, Becker won’t have to wait until November to plan his second term. It will begin July 15.”
June 16, 2011
Professor Adam Brown of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy talks with Doug Fabrizio about the Utah redistricting process.
June 15, 2011
“A Brigham Young University professor has been providing some clear insight into charges of gerrymandering in Utah. If we were to sum up his conclusions, we'd say they suggest that even if Republicans tried to redraw districts to their party's benefit, there's not much evidence they succeeded. Adam Brown is an assistant professor of political science at BYU and a research fellow with the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy. He's been crunching the numbers from previous redistricting effort.”
June 14, 2011
“Quin Monson, associate director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at LDS Church-owned Brigham Young University, noted the statement’s emphasis that the ‘bedrock moral issue ... is how we treat each other as children of God.’ ‘It doesn’t say the bedrock issue is protecting borders,’ Monson said. Though the immediate intended audience for the statement may be Republican delegates who will consider calling for HB116’s repeal next week at the state GOP convention, Monson said, the church also is ‘sending a strong message to the Utah Legislature.’ In some sense, Monson added, the statement’s power comes not from who issued it but from the sheer number of LDS statements on immigration that all move in the same direction — ‘toward compassion and civility, with a little dash of law and order.’”
June 12, 2011
“Earlier this year, Adam Brown, a political scientist at Brigham Young University, looked at the same Project Vote Smart data for a different research project. He didn't have a squad of interns, as we did, to fill in all the blanks, but even so we saw some of the same things—notably that state legislators have much more diverse educational backgrounds than members of Congress do.”
“Mr. Brown was also the first to bring up the Madison-Adams tension we mentioned above. He seems to lean a little toward the Adams camp. ‘Legislators aren't only supposed to represent the white-collar workers of the world,’ he wrote in an e-mail. ‘They need to represent everybody. Bearing in mind how many voters lack higher education, I'm not sure that a legislature could fairly represent a state's diversity if it didn't include people from diverse educational, economic, racial, religious, and vocational backgrounds.’”
June 11, 2011
"BYU political science professor Quin Monson told the Deseret News that Huntsman ‘has been rumored to be running all along,’ and his fate will ultimately be decided by who else chooses to seek the Republican nomination...''
June 8, 2011
“Adam Brown, a Brigham Young University political scientist, has analyzed the census data for his site —
utahdatapoints.com — and he believes Salt Lake County should have 28 House districts, not 31 as it has now, while Utah and Davis counties combined should pick up those three seats.”
June 7, 2011
See also the news and opinion articles in the Salt Lake Tribune
“So-called "red" and "blue" states are actually various shades of purple, much less polarized and divided among the overall citizenry than party politics would have us think, according to researchers at BYU and the University of Pennsylvania…”
June 3, 2011
“‘She would be very credible as the speaker of the house,’ said Quin Monson, of BYU's Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy. ‘She has proven she can deal with other skilled politicians and she is raising money well.’”
June 2, 2011
“‘It is an open seat in arguably the most competitive county in the state,’ says Quin Monson, associate director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at Brigham Young University. ‘Politicians who are strategic and savvy wait for those open seats. They know it is hard to beat an incumbent.’ Although Monson characterizes the early jockeying as somewhat ‘unusual,’ he says the broad interest in that seat doesn’t surprise him. ‘If you want to do something,’ Monson says, ‘this is the chance.’”
“During the nearly nine months that remain until the Iowa caucuses kick off election season, Romney will participate in a slew of debates — including CNN's New Hampshire debate on June 13. But the majority of Romney's time on the campaign trail will likely be spent on what BYU professor Kelly Patterson calls ‘the triathlon of politics.’’The triathlon is your fundraising, your organizing and your stumping,’ said Patterson, director of BYU's Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy. ‘You can't do the last two without the first — the old adage is, 'there are three things that are important in politics: money, and I forgot the other two.'”
“‘Gov. Huntsman is not the known commodity that Gov. Romney is,’ Patterson said. ‘They both face the same objective: they are trying to persuade voters and political elites that they deserve the (Republican) nomination and have the best chances of winning in November (2012). ‘They just have to get to it through different ways: Gov. Huntsman has to come at it from, 'You don't know me,' while Gov. Romney's message is, 'You know me.' ”
May 31, 2011
“Quin Monson, associate director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at Brigham Young University, said it appears Wimmer is playing to conservative Republican delegates and also putting down a marker on federal issues that might be important if he ends up in Congress. ‘He’s been very visible in the Legislature anyway in ways that are important on things that are solely state policy,’ Monson said, ‘but I think what seems to be going on is this is a way for him to communicate that he’s a bona fide conservative on federal issues.’”
May 28, 2011
“‘It's a daunting task and you need a full-time fundraising machine that believes in you, that has its own resources or access to its own resources, that can put together a very intense and deep network of support,’ said Kelly Patterson, director of the Center for the Studies of Elections and Democracy at Brigham Young University. ‘He's got to introduce himself to a lot of new people to make this happen, and they have to believe in him,’ Patterson said. ‘It takes time, which is why all along we've said that at some point you're in or you're out.’”
May 20, 2011
“‘He’s trying to create a brand name that doesn’t keep ‘Utah’ and ‘Mormon’ at the forefront of people’s minds,’ said Quin Monson, a political science professor at Brigham Young University. ‘‘Mormon’ didn’t do a lot for Mitt Romney. I think Huntsman is deliberately trying to brand himself in a different way…’ ‘Romney is the favorite son and it’s very clear that he’s in the better position. By some chance that Huntsman gets the nomination, he’ll still win Utah,’ said Monson. ‘There’s really no downside and a lot of upside’ to Florida.”
“Quin Monson, associate director of Brigham Young University's Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy, said Utahns shouldn't take Huntsman's statements so personally. ‘He's just trying to be seen in a different light,’ Monson said. ‘I don't think we're viewed as sort of average America.’ Huntsman has never been ‘the home-grown Utah boy, 100 percent,’ Monson said. ‘He's always kind of had one foot in and one foot out,’ he said, noting Huntsman, who now lives in Washington, D.C., left the state on a number of occasions, to attend college in Pennsylvania and serve previous GOP administrations. ‘He has those experiences. He is broader than Utah,’ Monson said. ‘He always has been.’”
May 17, 2011
“‘What really matters at this point is Gov. Herbert and how well he is doing,’ said Brigham Young University political science professor Quin Monson. ‘From my perspective, Herbert has had a few bumps in the road, but he is still quite popular and doing very well…’ Some Republicans also saw Herbert's stance on immigration as a possible weak spot when he signed a bill that creates a guest worker program for illegal immigrants, although Monson points out that the general public was in favor of that bill. Monson also noted that between now and next year's nominating convention there will be another legislative session where the governor will be able to smooth over some of the bumps.”
May 16, 2011
“Quin Monson, associate director of Brigham Young University’s Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy, said Herbert would still be the favorite to hang on to the governorship. ‘I would always bet on an incumbent unless there was some kind of scandal or something that was deeply controversial to his base,’ Monson said. ‘Herbert may be a little bruised, but I don’t see him as in any kind of deep trouble.’”
May 15, 2011
“In a research project done by Brigham Young University political science professor Adam Brown and his research assistant Robert Richards, ranking how conservative Utah's lawmakers were, Utah County's lawmakers made up a majority of the top rankings based on the votes they cast during the 2011 legislative session.”
May 14, 2011
“Quin Monson, assistant professor of political science at Brigham Young University, said the arrest puts a brighter glare on the already hot issue. ‘I don’t know if one case is enough. It sounds pretty gut-wrenching to me, and if it’s drawn out for a long time, it would evoke real emotions,’ he said. ‘If you get a number of these types of situations, it’s not anonymous or faceless anymore.’”
May 13, 2011
“Quin Monson, associate director of Brigham Young University's Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy, said while Utahns may be surprised by Huntsman's comments, he'll still come off as religious enough for most voters. Still, Monson said, Huntsman may end up having to be more specific about his relationship with the Mormon church, given the attention paid to Romney's faith in the last election. ‘I'm not sure if he can successfully become less overtly religious enough as a Mormon to do away with some of the bias we saw,’ Monson said. ‘We'll have to see.’”
May 12, 2011
“‘You can only tell with the passage of time if this approach is going to work,’ said Quin Monson, associate director of Brigham Young University's Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy. ‘This is going to be a majority issue for Mitt Romney. Anything he can do to diffuse it and handle it early on is a good idea.’”
“‘I think a fundraising overlap (between Romney and Huntsman) would occur at the level of smaller donors,’ said BYU's Quin Monson, associate director for the Center of Elections and Democracy. ‘But there won't be an overlap for the fundraisers, the bundlers who solicit checks and bundle them together. Those people, to the extent that they have connections with both Romney and Huntsman, will choose one or the other. … I think Romney has a bit of a head start, both because he's further ahead this time around and because he ran last time.’”
May 11, 2011
“Quin Monson, a political science professor at Brigham Young University, said big donors ‘certainly get access. And it’s not just access, it’s easier access. It’s getting your phone call returned or taken quickly, and getting the meeting set up with ease.’ After hearing the list of Utah’s biggest donors, Monson said, ‘I think what most of them want is nothing — nothing in the sense of inaction.’ He said they want to ‘play defense, not offense,’ by stopping bills that could hurt them or their industries. ‘You can only imagine the kinds of bills we have not seen because of donations by payday lenders or Realtors,’ Monson said. ‘You can’t connect the dots, because there are no dots to connect.’”
May 10, 2011
“BYU political science professor Adam Brown said that the battle between the two branches of government last week was a display of the Constitution in action. ‘The battle over the four-day workweek certainly looks like a battle between two competing branches. I'm not sure how much either side cares whether the Driver's License Division works on Friday. But it seems that both sides want to have the authority to make the decision,’ Brown said. Brown pointed out that there was less support to override the bills than there was when the bills were up for vote during the legislative session. That means there were some who chose to support the governor in his veto even though they voted in favor of the bill previously. He also noted that two of the governor's vetoes weren't overridden. ‘Sure he lost these two battles,’ Brown said. ‘But his other vetoes stood, and even on these override votes, several legislators decided it was in their best interest not to cross the governor, so they switched their votes.’”
April 29, 2011
“The results show ‘a significant lack of clarity among Utahns about the LDS Church’s stance and the challenge of moving individuals away from their predispositions,’ writes Chris Karpowitz on the website,
http://utahdatapoints.com, associated with Brigham Young University’s Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy. Karpowitz, an assistant professor of political science at BYU, added that more educated respondents were ‘significantly more likely to believe that the [LDS] Church supported the immigration bills.’ This connection between education and awareness of the LDS position may be explained by the fact that the Utah-based faith did not express its immigration positions through ecclesiastical channels such as LDS General Conference or a formal letter to Mormon congregations, Karpowitz writes, but rather through ‘the media, the church’s own website and its presence at the governor’s signing ceremony at the end of the legislative session.’ This Utah Voter Poll was conducted March 30-April 9, with 743 respondents who were randomly sampled for participation in an Internet survey. The poll does not reflect the LDS Church’s April 19 statement clarifying its explicit support of HB116.”
April 28, 2011
"'It’s not a perfect parallel,' says Quin Monson, a political scientist at Brigham Young University. 'But it’s a good example of a [church] position that took conservatives a bit by surprise'...As Monson, the BYU professor, notes: 'You’re not going to get perfect obedience on gay marriage either.'"
April 25, 2011
"Brigham Young University political scientist Quin Monson says the language of the church’s statements has evolved from July to now. The statements aren’t inconsistent, Monson said, but 'the debate has sharpened and we have actual legislation that has passed, and the church has expressed its satisfaction. The church is trying to walk a broader path, based on its principles.'"
April 18, 2011
“Politics is a subject in which rhetoric and reality rarely occur on the same page, so Wikipedia’s political content is often viewed with suspicion. But when it comes to objective and verifiable data, the online encyclopedia’s entries about politicians and elections are surprisingly accurate, according to a new study by a Brigham Young University political scientist (Adam Brown).”
April 12, 2011
“Utah voters place far more weight on the public's right to access information about government business than on legislators' right to privacy, according to poll results released Tuesday by BYU professors. The poll, conducted this month by BYU's Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy, asked 658 voters to rank by importance four policy goals associated with efforts to reform the state's open-records law, the Government Records Access and Management Act…’When you talk about what voters want to accomplish with this kind of legislation, the primary value in their mind is the protection of public access,’ said BYU politics professor Kelly Patterson…’For public officials who argue that privacy and cost are the most important values, Utah voters disagree,’ Patterson wrote in a blog post.”
April 9, 2011
Quin Monson, associate director of Brigham Young University's Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy, isn't taking a Trump candidacy seriously. ‘It seems more like Donald Trump is talking about the race to promote Donald Trump. Which he's always been very good at,’ Monson said. ‘This is a chance for him to get in the papers and get publicity.’ Besides, Monson said, Trump is likely to tire of politics once his personal life, including his divorces and business difficulties, is subjected to the same level of scrutiny as other candidates. The same goes for his no-holds-barred comments, most notably during a long-running feud with former daytime talk-show host Rosie O'Donnell. Currently, he's fighting publicly with a New York Times columnist. ‘He's been a little loose-lipped. If you're undisciplined like that, you're bound to eventually step in it,’ Monson said. ‘There's so many land mines, I'd be shocked if he didn't lose interest or step on one of them.’”
April 10, 2011
"Utah Data Points, a website featuring analysis by political science professors at Utah universities, has a new post looking at how voters rank importance of certain factors in the open records debate. Kelly Patterson, a political science professor at Brigham Young University, found voters rank access to government records far higher than 'citizen's right to privacy when communicating with legislators.' Only 2 percent thought legislators' own privacy was an important consideration. You can read the analysis
here."
"Last year, Brigham Young University professor Adam Brown, writing for
utahdatapoints.com, examined whether a good Mormon could be a good Democrat. It is a fascinating analysis."
April 21, 2011
"'It sounds a lot like it’s people who are not necessarily the strongest ideologues but the insiders,” said Quin Monson, associate director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at Brigham Young University. “It’s a lot of negotiating and they have to come to an agreement, so you need people who can eventually draw the line and negotiate with members of Congress and others and their colleagues.'“Ultimately, Republicans are going to have their way here,” said Monson. The only leverage Democrats have in the process, he said, is whether Rep. Jim Matheson will run for re-election to the House or run statewide. 'It’s a partisan process inherently and there’s no effort to take the partisanship out of it in Utah... The Republicans are going to do exactly what they think is best to maximize their wins and the only missing piece of the puzzle is what do they think is best to maximize their wins.'"
March 29, 2011
“Happy Tuesday. BYU's Adam Brown has done the math and found that the most powerful persons in the Utah Legislature weren't actually the Senate president or House speaker. It's Sen. Stuart Adams and Rep. Don Ipson. Check out the
fascinating number-crunching.”
"An analysis by Brigham Young University political-science professor Adam Brown indicated that HB477 moved faster than 99.5 percent of the bills passed by the Legislature, excluding budget bills and a handful of resolutions."
March 23, 2011
"Kelly Patterson, a political science professor and director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at Brigham Young University, said that there's no telling whether Romney or Huntsman will step forward until it happens...On the other hand, Patterson said, 'I would be a little surprised if neither one of them ran'..."
March 22, 2011
"Quin Monson, a political science professor at Brigham Young University, said there are pluses and minuses to both forms. A geographic-based city council would create broader representation, Monson said, but it might result in a factionalized body that fails to look at the city as a whole. However, he said, an at-large council could easily ignore fast-growing parts of the city. 'I'm kind of an admirer of Provo’s system of basically splitting the difference,' Monson said. 'You get a little bit of each.'"
"Kelly Patterson, a Brigham Young University political scientist, is more optimistic about his church and possible Mormon candidates. Patterson acknowledges religion played heavily in the previous Romney campaign, partly because the former Massachusetts governor portrayed himself as a religious individual. With that strategy, Romney invited some of the scrutiny of his faith, Patterson said. 'The second time around, it won’t be as important.'Politicians such as Romney can be very 'adaptive,'' he said. They learn how to frame issues in different ways and often do a better job of controlling the narrative. Over time, constituents come to feel more comfortable with those candidates and trust them more. 'Clearly, with some elements of the Republican Party and the media,' Patterson said, 'there is a level of familiarity and understanding of Mormonism that didn’t exist in 2008 cycle.' The BYU political scientist wonders if Romney will follow a similar strategy in a 2012 campaign — and if Huntsman learned anything by watching him. 'Jon Huntsman may not want money and volunteers from the LDS community like Governor Romney had,' Patterson said. 'He may identify an entirely different set of core supporters.'"
“Brigham Young University political scientist Kelly Patterson could not come up with another instance where a group in Utah used the Mormon faith in such an overt way. While it is difficult to precisely measure the impact of the mailer on the convention vote, Patterson said his polling made one thing clear. ‘It bothered the delegates that religion was used in that way,’ he said. The survey asked delegates to rank how offensive they found the advertising, with the top possible score being 100. They gave it a 74.89, meaning ‘they found it quite offensive,’ Patterson said. On the flip side, the delegates were pretty uniform in their view that it was an inappropriate use of religious symbols. Patterson sees two paths for Lee. He can let a potential FEC investigation run its course and let it be, or he can use his position to try to uncover the as-yet-unnamed participants. ‘It depends on the kind of person Mike Lee, as Senator, chooses to be,’ said Patterson. ‘It is almost a personality issue.’”
March 4, 2011
“‘Huntsman started putting distance between himself and the church when he was still in office,’ said Quin Monson, a political science professor at BYU. He added that Mormons identified much more with Romney, who took a punch for the religion when he gave his speech defending Mormonism. ‘Huntsman won't give that speech.’”
January 27, 2011
“’You just have to look at the actual number (27) of successful constitutional amendments to know that the probability of success here is small,’ said Quin Monson, BYU political science professor and assistant director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy. ‘But you can define success in a lot of ways, and it doesn't necessarily mean you actually get a constitutional amendment. It could be that you define success as reducing or eliminating the budget deficit, or you could define success here as getting reelected and signaling to your constituents that you're serious about an issue. My suspicion is that Sen. Hatch would count all of those things as a success.’”
“Quin Monson, a BYU political science professor and assistant director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy, is taking a wait-and-see approach regarding how much influence the Tea Party Caucus will ultimately wield. ‘Members of Congress form (caucuses) all the time across a variety of interests,’ Monson said. ‘They're regional, they reflect demographic groupings and other interests, and they come up with names all the time. I think they serve a purpose of allowing like-minded members of Congress to identify each other and communicate with each other, and they symbolize something back to constituents.‘Other than that, I don't know what we can say much about the Tea Party Caucus within the (Senate) because it hasn't been around long enough to say much about.’”
January 25, 2011
“As David Magleby highlighted in ‘The Last Hurrah?’ a book detailing party committee spending in the 2002 elections, the influx of soft money fundraising in the 1990s led to alternate spending avenues…” “In an e-mail to Roll Call, Magleby noted the changes in spending. ‘In the 1998-2002 period the party committees, working through state party committees, expended substantial sums in competitive contests,’ said Magleby, a senior research fellow at the Brigham Young University Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy. ‘In 2004 and since they have done the same thing with hard money independent expenditures.’”
January 13, 2011
"‘I think every indication three months ago was he's a candidate — or six months ago. He's done everything since he dropped out last time to lead up to another run,’ said Quin Monson, associate director of BYU's Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy. Monson speculated Romney might attempt to time his announcement to the nation's April 15 income tax filing deadline. He could ‘take advantage of what's on everyone's mind,’ Monson said, especially since taxes are a big issue with tea party followers. He said Romney may be in no hurry to formally join the race…‘Romney learned last time it's tough to peak early,’ Monson said. ‘It's for him to not have the high expectations that he needs to be the frontrunner and needs to be in the lead.’"
January 2, 2011
"After all, Huntsman left office with sky-high approval ratings, scoring 84 percent in a March 2009 Utah voter poll conducted by the BYU Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy. The former governor's ratings were above 80 percent among Mormons and non-Mormons alike and actually topped 90 percent among Utah Democrats."
