Richard L. Bushman is the Howard W. Hunter Visiting Professor of Mormon Studies, an endowed chair at Claremont Graduate University in California, and author of Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling. A prominent scholar of Mormonism, he has given talks on the relationship between Mormonism and American politics.

Michael Otterson is head of public relations for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City. He can discuss the church and its stand on politics and government matters.

Read the text of  Mitt Romney’s Dec. 6, 2007 speech on religion in America, posted by theBostonChannel.com.

Read a New York Times article about Mitt Romney’s Dec. 6, 2007, speech on religion in America.

Read a roundup of how Mormon candidates and legislators fared in the 2008 election from the website By Common Consent.

Read a Pew Forum analysis (updated in February 2011) titled “Faith on the Hill: The Religious Composition of the 112th Congress.” It finds that Mormons are better-represented in Congress than they are in the U.S. population.

See a June 20, 2011, Gallup poll showing that 22 percent of voters would not support a candidate if their preferred party nominated a Mormon for president. About 20 percent of Republicans voiced such opposition, and 27 percent of Democrats.

A June 3, 2011, post at Christianity Today‘s politics blog analyzes the Pew findings from the Pew research report “Republican Candidates Stir Little Enthusiasm.”

Read a June 2011 survey by the Pew Research Center showing that 25 percent of Americans, and 34 percent of white evangelicals, would be less likely to vote for a Mormon candidate for president.