This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Donald Trump is well on his way to winning the Republican presidential nomination. But he's not there yet.

If Trump does fall short of the necessary number of delegates needed to win on the convention's first ballot, it could be by the margin created by how poorly he did this week in Utah.

So, want Trump stopped? Thank a Mormon.

— The GOP needs more Mormons — Damon Linker | The Week

"With Donald Trump's massive loss in Utah on Tuesday ... Trump has finally met his match — the force in the Republican Party that can stop his populist juggernaut in its tracks.

"The secret to bringing the demagogue to his knees? Mormons. ...

" ... The question is why so many members of the LDS Church are so immune to the Donald's demotic charms.

"There are at least six distinct reasons.

" ... Mormons aren't angry. ...

" ... Mormons disapprove of Trump's garish lifestyle. ...

" ... Mormons dislike vulgarity. ..."

" ... Mormons prize law-abidingness. ..."

" ... Mormons like immigration reform. ..."

" ... Mormons don't hate Muslims. ..."

— How Mitt Romney and the Mormons Saved the "Never Trump" Movement — Ryan Lizza | The New Yorker

" ... There are no more states like Utah on the primary calendar. The stop-Trump forces have only been given a brief respite. But it was a significant one. If Trump had swept [Tuesday's] contests, the race would effectively be over. It's no coincidence that Jeb Bush endorsed Cruz this morning, after Cruz proved that his efforts to deny Trump a majority of delegates were not entirely futile.

"The sight of Bush and Romney and a growing roster of establishment Republicans who privately despise Cruz now rallying to his candidacy is telling: after months of inaction, Republicans are finally waking up to the idea that unless they deny Trump the nomination, he will wreck the Republican Party. The only question is whether it is too late."

— Mormons against the Donald — The Economist

"The Republican primary contest, for so long overcrowded, has been reduced to a single main contest: between Donald Trump and those trying to stop him bagging the 1,237 delegates he needs to win the party's presidential nomination. ...

" ... With 739 delegates overall, he is the only candidate with a serious chance of securing the Republican nomination before the party's convention in July. It looks awfully tight; a reckoning of his prospects in the states still to vote suggests he might just fall short. For that, his opponents can now thank Mr Cruz's coterminous success in Utah, where the Texan senator won easily, securing a rare statewide majority in the Republican contest and taking all its 40 delegates. Mr Cruz was heavily backed by the state's Mormons, who represent most of Utah's Republican primary electorate. As the sort of outsider group Mr Trump loves to pick on, its members dislike him. He also antagonised them further by questioning the Mormon faith of Mitt Romney, the most recent Republican presidential candidate and a leader of the emerging Stop Trump effort. ..."

— How Donald Trump Could End the Republican Lock on the Mormon Vote — Jack Jenkins | The Atlantic

" ... Trump may be right that Mormons don't like liars. But they also don't like people who bash immigrants, or those who discriminate on the basis of religion. ..."

— Mormons Detest Donald Trump. Here's Why — Kira Lerner | Think Progress

" ... 'Trump, both in his private life and his public persona — his crassness, his affairs — all of that kind of thing offends Mormon sensibilities,' said Matt Bowman, an associate professor of history at Henderson State University and the author of 'The Mormon People: The Making of an American Faith.' 'Mormons place a high premium on being nice, and Trump is not nice.'

" 'Mormons also have a deep memory of religious persecution, and Trump's Islamophobia, bigotry, and rejection of Muslims is "certainly something Mormons find distasteful,' Bowman told ThinkProgress.

"There's also a class issue at play in Mormons' rejection of Trump. 'Mormons generally tend to be better educated than average Americans, their income tends to be higher, and it's widely known that that's precisely the opposite of Trump's demographic.'..."

Not that it's only Mormons who don't like Trump:

— Lasting Damage for G.O.P.? Young Voters Reject Donald Trump — Toni Monkovic | The Upshot | The New York Times

"To understand the concern, and in some cases the panic, of many Republican officials over Donald Trump, consider this fact: Young people generally don't like him. The potential of losing an election is one thing, but as polling numbers suggest, the Trump brand could weigh on the G.O.P. for a generation. ..."