November’s District 2 congressional election showed that support for Donald Trump among Utah voters may be stronger than ever. Republican Celeste Maloy, a Trump supporter, not only won by a wide margin over a Democrat strongly critical of Trump, but she earlier won the GOP primary by defeating a first-rate challenger who had voted for Biden in 2020.

Does Trump’s continued strength here suggest that character is a low priority for Utah voters? The answer to that question — in presidential races, at least — perhaps can be found by first determining in which races in the past century (1920-2020) the major parties nominated truth-impaired candidates. Once we know that, we can look at how Utahns voted in those contests.

While it could be argued that all politicians engage in spin and half-truth, the historical record shows some agreement that seven elections stand out in which seriously truth-impaired candidates made it onto the ballot: 1920, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 2016 and 2020.

Let’s review. Warren Harding (1920) is known for hush-money payments and the Teapot Dome bribery scandal, among other lapses. He won Utah by 17.1 points. Richard Nixon (1960, 1968, 1972) engaged in a Watergate coverup that ended in him resigning in disgrace before he could be impeached and convicted. He won Utah all three times, by margins of 9.6, 19.4 and 41.2 points respectively. As president, Lyndon Johnson was literally unbelievable, resulting in a new term, “credibility gap,” being coined in his dishonor. The wheeler-dealer Johnson went from winning by a landslide in 1964 to dropping out of the 1968 presidential race when pressure built within his own party to dump him. He won Utah by 9.7 points. The prolific liar Trump (2016, 2020), four times indicted and currently facing 91 criminal charges, is viewed by many as the most corrupt, unfit president in history. His Utah victories were by 18 and 20.4 points.

In analyzing these pivotal contests solely from the perspective of character, we can conclude that character does indeed matter in Utah: We appear to prefer the candidate with the least. Not only did the most ethically challenged presidential nominees consistently win in Utah in the past century, their victories were usually by wide margins.

Of course, some might argue that the bad behavior of these truth-optional candidates occurred mostly after they were elected, thereby somewhat excusing those who voted for them. Alas, such an argument might be viewed as an attempt to exonerate voters for being otherwise poorly informed or lacking discernment. For example, Richard Nixon’s Watergate crimes didn’t occur until the early 1970s, but even in 1960 and 1968 he was referred to as “tricky Dick,” providing a clue about his integrity.

It might also be viewed as unfair to Utah to look at presidential races only from the perspective of the least-ethical candidates. Greater balance requires that we also consider which candidate in the past century was the most honest and how well he performed here. Who would that be? It’s hard to argue against longtime Sunday School teacher Jimmy Carter (1976, 1980), the first “born-again” president. Carter not only cultivated a strait-laced image, the Carters prayed and read the Bible daily in the White House, refused to serve hard liquor, etc. (Of course, Mitt Romney in 2012 was also widely known for his religious affiliation, but as his faith was the same as that of most Utahns, a vote for him might have simply reflected more of an affinity for his faith than a judgment on his character.)

So how well did the “righteous” Carter do with the God-fearing majority of Utah voters? No contest! He was a slam dunk! In 1976, he got slammed in a whopping 29-point landslide by Gerald Ford, and in 1980 he got dunked in a 52-point drubbing by Ronald Reagan.

For those of us who have been Beehive State residents for most or all of our life, what shall we say to outsiders and mean-spirited atheists who mock our strong support of presidential candidates lacking character? Perhaps we could say: “Yes, we consistently vote for shady candidates when one is available. But we totally make up for it by electing strict, fair enforcers of the law who are above reproach. These fine people serve as our attorneys general.”

Oops.

Steve Warren is the author of “Drat! Mythed Again, Second Thoughts on Utah,” a look at myths, miscalculations and downright awful predictions in Utah history.

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