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Clinton makes questionable Utah investment as Trump plays delay game

The following is an excerpt from an SMU News release. For the full release READ MORE.

Dedman College expert Matthew Wilson is ready to field questions on the ever changing presidential race.

CLINTON’S UTAH AMBITIONS A QUIXOTIC ADVENTURE

MATTHEW WILSON:
jmwilson@smu.edu

On reports that Clinton has opened a field office in Utah…

  • “She has an outside chance (of winning Utah), but it still seems like a waste of resources. It’s hard to imagine a scenario in which Utah is a decisive state. If she’s just romping to victory everywhere, she could win Utah, but it would just be icing on the cake – a superfluous and anomalous result that wouldn’t be sustained (by Democrats) in the future. It’s got everything to do with Trump if she wins there and nothing to do with Clinton.”

On whether Clinton can swing the Mormon vote to the Democratic Party…

  • “Mormons have been strongly Republican for quite some time and Utah is usually not competitive, and has not be for decades. There are no trends in the Mormon electorate to suggest it’s becoming more competitive. The only reason anyone thinks it might be this time is because Trump is uniquely repugnant to Mormons. It’s not a thing where an investment of resources would pay dividends in the future.”

Wilson is an SMU associate professor of Political Science. Books published:

  • Politics and Religion in the United States. With Michael Corbett and Julia Corbett-Hemeyer. Routledge Press, 2013.
  • Understanding American Politics. With Stephen Brooks and Douglas L. Koopman. University of Toronto Press, 2013.
  • From Pews to Polling Places: Faith and Politics in the American Religious Mosaic. Georgetown University Press, 2007. Edited volume including authored chapter.