Did Romney lose many votes because he’s a Mormon? Here’s a data point: the online survey Beliefnet did a couple of weeks ago asked evangelicals whether the religious beliefs of any candidate would make them more or less likely to vote for a particular candidate. 32% of evangelicals said Romney’s religious beliefs would make them less likely to support him, compared to 16.5% who said so for McCain. Among conservative evangelicals, the effect was even greater — 35.6% for Romney and 15% for McCain.

By the way, those Democrats who might chortle that Republican intolerance cost them their best candidate, don’t get too smug. Our survey showed that Democrats were just as intolerant of Mormons as Republicans are. At least they have that in common.