even more surprising, though, is that the conventional wisdom in this campaign is that mitt romney's mormonism evangelical christians in the base of his whole party. and what this poll shows is that the greatest resistance to a mormon candidate is actually among democrats. almost one in four democrats say they wouldn't vote for a well-qualified mormon for president. and independents, about 18% of independents say the same. so it turns out, this is a battle that you might have to fight more with middle of the road voters, than even within his own party. >> so if his own base doesn't really, you know, mind too much, when it comes to his religion, what about his vp pick? >> well, i think, you know, he has to satisfy his base in other ways. there are a lot of evangelicals, for instance, who are worried that he's not socially conservative enough, on their issues. and so, on the one hand, he has to pick a candidate that satisfies that base, and that overcomes some of that concern. but a poll like this shows that, you know, he needs, still, to get the middle, and so, like, a sarah palin-like pick, li

mormon. 24%, that goes up to 24% when you ask democrats. i think the poll is bogus. this is not a hypothetical person. we are talking about mitt romney. re a democrat you'll probably vote against him anyway. will some people stay home based on mormonism? what do you think? >> bob: the thing about the poll no, difference in proposition for mormonism than any of the other religious faith. that is constant. opposition to mormonism has gone fairly consistent from the first time it was polled when george romney was running for president. it's about the 20-20%. if you look at where it comes from, mostly from less educated, high school graduates and less, and i think in that sense whereas with black and jews the number plummeted who wouldn't vote for him, it's consistent with mormonism, and think that's fundamentally a problem. if it's just among democrats i'd say it's not a problem. but it spreads across the board. >> greg: i don't think it's a problem because the person talking the least about mormonism are the mormons. the only people talking about this is the media. they are the ones saying it could be a problem. but from those that i kno

he hit on everything from the economic recovery to taking a job at mitt romney's mormonism. >> the mormonsomney's crew, they believed black people were the devil till 1978. i'm not making this up. right, right? we black and we have to look this stuff up. '78. >> blackapedia. >> tell you what other black policies of this religion. '78. that means jackson 5, devil. temptations, the devil. what changed them? bootsie collins got them. >> george jefferson. >> the devil. not even the boogeyman. devil. >> president of the united states. okay. >> wow. bootsie collins has a religious following. chris is hilarious. some of what he said isn't funny. there are several passages new mexico book of mormon that deems black people as cursed. they became a dark and loathsome and a filthy people full of idleness and all manner of adom my nations. african-americans were not allowed to fully participate in the mormon priesthood until 1978. they banned black people from ceremonies from the highest heaven. mitt romney said he he felt on meet the press back in 2007. >> i can remember when i heard about the change

he would have been the first european mormon. >> the romneys sales to america. miles was nearly dead when he are arrived. documents show that he had 12 wives. what do the romneys think of their famous relative? >> it is inspiring. >> if he wins, he might stop by. we might get to meet him. >> the man who wants to be president is the mormon. >> there is always something new to find out into that brings the show to a close. you can get constant updates on our website. to see what we are working on, just look at our twitter feet. for "bbc world news america," goodbye. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, newman's own foundation, union bank, and shell. >> at shell, we believe the world needs a broader mix of energies. that's why we're supplying cleaner-burning natural gas to generate electricity. and it's also why, with our partner in brazil, shell is producing ethanol, a biofuel made from renewable sugar cane. >> a minute, mom! >> let's broaden the world's energy mix. let's go. >> "bbc world news america"

interesting that mitt romney's father participated in a biography in the '60s called "george romney a mormons father, and public part of the identity, and we haven't seen that quite from mitt romney so far. i don't know, i mean, that the campaign doesn't i don't think that they want to give a mormon speech again and they felt like they dealt with it four years ago and avoided it altogether, and like you said earlier, the convention is going to be interesting to see how much they bring up his faith and background. >> and not just the faith, but the parents may have a problem for him, because we are having a good time with george romney and mitt's mom who ran for senate who are decidedly to the left of the son at a time when it was harder to be to the left. >> george romney is on record to support rights in the pay and equity that is much more aggressive for equality of all people under the law than mitt romney. >> for me, there are so many good reasons to not vote for mitt romney, and that is because i'm a liberal progressive, so i think that, oh, my gosh, i can make you a whole case for not

if you make -- he may not talk are much of the campaign trail, but everybody knows that mitt romney is a mormon. his great, great grandfather was a carpenter in the northwest of england. he and his wife elizabeth converted at the end of the 1830's. joseph smith founded the church of the latter-day saints in new york in 1830, after claiming that an angel delivered a new message to him on tablets of gold. in a squalid, poverty-stricken miltown, the u.s. is seen the land of hope. the people gathered and said that jesus had gone and would soon return. that led them from england's shores. >> the first person to try to leave -- it was important to them. he had a responsibility. >> it was a sign of real prestige. the first guy to become a mormon convert ran down the slope and into the river just so that he could say he was the first european mormon. >> the romney family said farewell to england in 1841. on board, there were three deaths. there was much sickness. miles was nearly dead when he arrived, but he survived. he helped to build a tabernacle. he fell to his death in 1870. documents show that he

with mitt romney trying to become the first mormon president of the united states mormonism is suddenly become a popular and heated debate topic and what inevitably comes up in a debate over mormonism is how similar it is to christianity with many arguing the mormonism is just a branch of christianity if you think that mormonism is just an offshoot of christianity and that it doesn't deserve consideration as an independent religion and everything you know is wrong joining me now is professor dave mason author of mormonism a primer for non mormons and mormons alike and an op ed contributor to the new york times his most recent piece is titled i'm a mormon not a christian professor mason welcome hi thanks for joining us sir why why do you think well first of all you say i'm a mormon not a christian can you explain what that means. well fairly straightforward you know i don't feel like i have to be identified with christianity to find my so legitimate as a religious person. so. bad to feel the need to define themselves a christian a catholic would feel the need to define themselves as a ch

as much as mitt romney is uncomfortable talking too much about the mormon faith, the mormon church isuncomfortable talking about mitt romney. one of its key messages is that it's not political. and it's not partisan. so it's doing a lot of outreach to the public, and to journalists in particular, trying to get across the message of what they're not going to be doing as well. you know, specifically, they're not going to be ground troops for romney. >> and from your reporting and also from our own -- i was looking on websites and you flare officials even with romney in the position from which he's in, the lbs leaders want to stress the term political neutrality, correct? >> exactly. they've been fielding questions from reporters and local papers. are you going to get your members in certain states to go out to the polls and knock on doors? so they want to shoot down the idea that that is what they're going to be involved in. so a lot of the outreach has been kind of stressing -- the spokesman told me just one tactic he has. he never using romney's name in interviews. even when people ar

i know that mitt romney doesn't want it out there, obama doesn't want to be accused of bringing it out. but americans don't know what is really in the mormonon't really -- as long as they can separate it. most politicians are -- odds are going to be religious. most americans are. i don't really care that mitt romney was a mormon. >> there was an article in "the new york times" where he said that he makes decisions rationally but then sometimes changes his mind because he feels god wants him to do something else. >> well then that's a problem. puts a different paint job on things. jimmy carter, for example, born again christian. >> great guy. >> great guy. >> never fired a shot as president. >> no. no. yeah. there's an example of a guy who, you know, clearly we both have enormous respect for. >> right. >> very religious man. i think that there can be a co-existence in america between agnostics, atheists, and religious people, let's all keep it where it belongs and not bring it into -- you know, bring it into the workplace. >> well, i thank you for coming into our workplace, mr. seth mcfarlane. you are always an entertaining and enlightening

romney. >> dana: black mormons. >> eric: i don't know. >> bob: black mormon may. that church may vote for him. going after the constituency, romney went after hispanics. did you make a big deal out of that? of course not. >> eric: are you saying romney is his spannic? >> bob: no. he ran hispanic ads. it happens all the time. what is the point here? >> eric: but he is going after the african-american vote. >> greg: i like the music. i like the vibe. >> eric: is there a reason? pew did a poll saying support among african-americans for barack obama is going down. >> dana: everybody. >> eric: now 88%. gay marriage has been an issue in the obama campaign. >> dana: i think unemployment is the bigger issue. general disappointment. i think the likely voters will likely vote for president obama again in a re-election. they know there is not as many across the board. enthusiasm. across the board in every plight. they are figuring out -- they have an analytics department to figure out how to segment the population. just one of those things. >> andrea: i don't think it's that

>> the mormons, mitt romney, they believe black people were the devil till 1978. i'm not making this up! >> and hollywood unleashed. president obama takes their money but are there consequences to cozying up to the stars? >> we know of the president's whiteness, it's there. >> caution. you are about to enter the no spin zone and "the factor" begins right now. >> hello, everyone. i'm laura ingraham in tonight for bill o'reilly. thanks for watching us. president is back on the job and giving his version of the economy. that is the subject of this evening's talking points memo. barack obama surprised everyone today by actually appearing in washington. after a few days of hollywood scmoozing and a week after the department of labor released the worst job numbers of the year, he held a short press conference and had this to report. >> the private sector is doing fine. where we're seeing weaknesses in our economy have to do with state and local government. >> what? the economy is growing at only 1.9% and the truth is there are 552,000 fewer americans working now than wh

read you something from a "new york times" editorial, written by david mason a mormon professor "i suspect that mr. romneyitician that should he occupy the office, he studiously avoid the appearance of being any bus a w.a.s.p. mormons are christian enough to know how to spitingly abuse their power. what is your reaction to that? >> let's be honest we have the first african-american sitting in the white house, and obama was a young man when the norman church that romney belongs to still would not allow black men toss bishops or pastors, as we would call it for most denominations' backgrounds. nobody wants to talk about it, but there's a lot of racial tension, just as the tea party and the religious right have lied about our president consistently using everything in the book except to come out and say what's bothering him, which is a black man sitting in the white house, which in their view belongs to white people in perpetuity, so in this confrontation between our first mormon president if he becomes president, and our first african-american president, you have a collision that i think is quietly driving

. >> i think a lot, but not all mind you, 40% of americans don't know that mitt romney is a mormontalking about mitt romney. >> how much do we think -- how much do we think his faith -- mitt romney's faith will matter to voters in november? >> i think it actually could matter a great deal. there was a fascinating study that came out of the university of sydney recently that showed that people's support of mitt romney, whether they planned to vote for him, were most closely tied of what they thought of mormonism. patriotic, et cetera. it was more closely tied than party identification or ideology. we don't talk about mormonism as much as some people think we should, i think in a lot of voter's minds that will be the deciding factor. >> how does this compare to what gallup saw for voters accepting an african-american president before 2008 or a catholic president back in the early 60s. when we were talking about john f. kennedy. >> 21% of americans in 1960 said this they wouldn't vote for an otherwise well-qualified candidate that was a catholic. john kennedy was a catholic this kind

mormons now. because of mitt romney 80% said that they would vote for mormon but 18% would not gallup says and thatevel of opposition a mormon candidate would have faced in 1967 so why do you think attitudes toward mormons haven't changed in 45 years? >> it hasn't changed a whole lot. it's surprising and it may be because maybe mormons aren't as mobile. maybe they're not getting around and being exposed. i really don't know as i think about it. but 80% is still pretty huge and that is big news because there are people wondering could we have a mormon president? looking at these stats we certainly could. >> yeah. and you saw there's been a campaign to try to get people to understand mormonism. you know, the i am mormon billboards that are all over and the commercials and everything. so all right. we'll see. stand by because when we come back we'll tell everyone what your foot wear reveals about your confidence and your relationship and then later you don't want to miss this. actress jada pinkett smith teams up with cnn on a tough issue of human trafficking. you'll see my interview with her. it's fas

have heard about the angelle cal vote and whether or not the president is a muslim and mitt romney being a mormon. do you think that will matter to people? >> speaking from the research i have done with clergy, what i noticed politically is wherever they start out, as they lose their super natural beliefs, they become more liberal. if they are conservative, they become more liberal. if they are already liberal, they stay liberal. losing super natural beliefs, is becoming more liberal. >> i want to play something from steven at the boston university. take a listen. >> 2/3 are saying they never even debated or doubted the existence of god. most of the church people i know have a mixture of faith and doubt. i don't see evidence of the fact that religion is going away. it seems that religion is changing a little bit, but only about 3% of millennials and people under 30 say they are atheist. i don't see a lot of secularization problems in amica. >> he said there still plenty of people who have never questioned god's existence and the number is low. just because you questioned god's existence, it doesn

romney being a mormon and whether or not the president is a muslim and all that. do you think that will matter to people eventually? >> once again, speaking from the research i've conducted with clergy, what i've noticed among them politically is that wherever they start out, as they lose their super natural believes they become more liberal. if they're conservative they become more liberal. if they are already liberal, they stay liberal, not go the other way. losing supernatural beliefs results in what i've seen in working with the clergy, in becoming more liberal. >> this is something from boston university. take a listen. >> wow, two-thirds are saying they never even in their entire lives never debated the or doubted the existence of god. i think most of the church people i know have some mixture of faith and doubt. so i don't see evidence here of the fact that religion is going away. it seems religion is, perhaps, changing a little bit. only about 3% of millenniums, under 30. >> so he says there are still plenty of people who have never questioned god's existe

romney who is a mormon. so it will only take an outliar criticism for both of them to come center stage. i think that's yet ahead of us. >> ok. let's say that doesn't happen. if it doesn't happen, you know, then we always believe during the primaries that religion is an important focactor when it comes to politicians we choose. but it doesn't come up in the general election, does that show us that religion is not so important anymore in electing the president of the united states? >> well, we might conclude that except the polls show otherwise. the number of people who won't vote for a mormon, the number of people who tonight believe it's christianity, according to some surveys. the number of people who think it's in conflict with the american mainstream. if we go silent on religion during the final phase, it will belie everything the polls are telling us, which means people are intentionally going silent on the subject. i don't think that's healthy. >> steven mansfield, thank you so much. >> thank you very

>> the mormons, mitt romney, they believe black people were the devil till 1978.'m not making this up! >> and hollywood unleashed. president obama takes their money but are there consequences to cozying up to the stars?

romney, you've got obama, they're going at it. >> what is going on? okay. i just heard this the other day. the mormons? right? right? see, we black people, we have to look this stuff up. [ laughter ] '78. >> jimmy: blackepedia, and then you find it out? >> yes, we go to blackepedia. >> jimmy: to tell you what's up. >> they tell you what the black policies of this religion. '78. that mean's jackson 5 -- devil. [ laughter ] temptations -- the devil. what changed them? what? bootsy collins got them? what? [ laughter ] >> jimmy: george jefferson. >> the devil. >> jimmy: the devil. >> not even the boogie man. >> jimmy: the devil. that's off. that's crazy. did not know that. >> the devil. >> jimmy: but, i mean -- >> president. >> jimmy: yeah. >> of the united states. >> jimmy: yeah. >> okay. >> jimmy: it seems that obama -- he had it tough the past couple of -- >> but obama's good, man. the thing about obama you got to realize, man. first of all, the economy is getting better every month for like, almost two years. and everybody is complaining. it's not going fast enough. it's like -- like complaining that

i just know about the book of mormon. >> not only does the mormon religion require it, but ann romney, a religion that suppresses other women and herself. >> joy: i was reading is the other day that she really didn't choose it because she loved the religion so much as she wanted to hook a guy. that could have been the reason. >> well, that goes to my idea that she wanted to be under the leadership of the idealized male so in a way that tells me that she and mitt are both dogmatic together. did you hear that she threatened--when her parents were angry with her for taking a flight within mormonism she threatened to cut them off from their grandchildren. that tells me that she's as dogm aty as she is. >> joy: thank you for your insights. i'll be back tomorrow night. i got through this one. stay h

analyzed presidents bush and obama as analyzed mitt romney and says romney is comfortable line in part because of the way he was raised in his mormon faith because the real reason why romney can't tell the truth to something much more simple and to make him unfit to be president also is republicans will win in november with out the help of illegal vote purges and what exactly is mitt romney's plan for health care reform in america that and more into nights alone liberal rubble and depending on the outcome of this week's elections greece may soon be departing from the euro and facing even greater financial crisis this be the best move for the greeks or is there another way for them to save their economy and rebuild their nation.