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A reader writes:
I have always loved Utah. Certainly, it’s a beautiful state, but I have always felt something else there. Utah’s people seem to have a purpose – an extra dimension. Perhaps the way they chose to live is not exactly the same as that of your friends in Italy, and their option is not Benedictine, but it seems to be an option nonetheless. Trump got shredded in Utah. The angry, disillusioned, corroded layer of society instinctively voting Trump does not seem to be there. I wonder why that is.
I don’t know. Readers, what do you think? Must be something about the LDS faith … but what? Except for Park City, for the Sundance Film Festival, I’ve never been to Utah. Help me understand what the reader sees. What’s the matter with Utah? Why are they not messed up like the rest of us are messed up?
Michael Brendan Dougherty has at least a partial answer:
Groups that tend to do better economically in diverse societies have more trouble sympathizing with groups that struggle, and often tend to blame that struggle on innate traits or character faults. This is not the case in Utah. Despite being one of the whitest and most conservative states in the country, Utah implemented a simple and seemingly radical policy that has had great success in solving homelessness. Namely, Utah gave homes to the homeless. And they saved a bundle by doing so, since homelessness drives spending both in social services and the corrections department.
Another commonality of anti-Trump states is their high fertility. Utah leads the way with the highest fertility rate of all states (excluding territories), at 2.33 children per woman. Utah is also a state in the bottom third of divorce statistics.
Utah lags the rest of the nation in its diversity. But it is a low-crime, economically healthy state with stronger-than-average marriages. And Utah’s people have enough confidence in themselves and the future to invest in their society over the long term by having children at a higher rate than any other state in the country. The message is obvious: Voters who are well integrated into the mediating institutions of society don’t buy what Trump is selling.
Shorter MBD: Because Utah is full of Mormons.