Deceptive Deseret News headline claims Trump will lose Utah in November

Antelope Island, Utah

The Deseret News, which is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, must be angry with Donald Trump's recent comments about Mitt Romney, a Mormon. However, Trump says, "Okay, I love the Mormons."

In today's Deseret News, the number two paper in Salt Lake City, readers are confronted with this headline, Poll: Utah would vote for a Democrat for president over Trump.

But if you dig into the details, that is, if you read the story, you'll get a more accurate take:

If Donald Trump becomes the Republican Party's nominee, Utahns would vote for a Democrat for president in November for the first time in more than 50 years, according to a new Deseret News/KSL poll.

"I believe Donald Trump could lose Utah. If you lose Utah as a Republican, there is no hope," said former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, a top campaign adviser to the GOP's 2012 nominee, Mitt Romney.

The poll found that may well be true. Utah voters said they would reject Trump, the GOP frontrunner, whether former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is the Democratic candidate on the general election ballot.

While Clinton was only slightly ahead of Trump — 38 percent to 36 percent — Sanders, a self-declared Democratic socialist, holds a substantial lead — 48 percent to 37 percent over the billionaire businessman and reality TV star among likely Utah voters.

Not only does the Trump--Clinton fall within the poll's margin of error, Hillary does not even crack forty percent. Trump may challenge this belief--but GOP voters tend to fall in line and go with their party in the general election. As for Sanders, because of Democratic boss chicanery, he will not be on the ballot in November.

In other words, ignore the headline.