SALT LAKE CITY — Utah can thank the unexpected rise of Evan McMullin for all the attention presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are throwing the state's way as Election Day approaches.

Without the Mormon independent threatening to be the first candidate outside a major party to win a state since 1968, Democrats and Republicans wouldn't give Utah much thought.

But both the Clinton and Trump campaigns are stepping up their efforts to woo voters in the heavily Republican state that with McMullin's emergence is now up for grabs.

"For the Clinton campaign, it would be a real coup to take a state that has been Republican for so long," said former political pollster Scott Rasmussen, who founded the widely respected Rasmussen Reports. "For Donald Trump, the notion of losing this state would be horrific."

And if he had to guess right now, Rasmussen said he would pick McMullin to win Utah.

"I think there are an awful lot of people who are taking a different type of conscience vote. They're going to say, 'Let's send a message,'" Rasmussen said in an interview.

Rasmussen, who left Rasmussen Reports three years ago, and Karl Zinsmeister, former chief domestic policy adviser in the George W. Bush administration, were in Utah Tuesday to speak at Sutherland Institute, a conservative public policy think tank.

Rasmussen said what's happening in Utah might be the most interesting election story of the year. Various polls have McMullin ahead or even with the major party candidates in the state.

Utah would "absolutely not" be drawing the notice of Trump and Clinton were McMullin not in the race, he said.

Trump's running mate and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence is scheduled to hold a rally Wednesday at the Infinity Event Center in Salt Lake City. Trump spoke at the same venue earlier this year. Pence also was the keynote speaker at Sen. Mike Lee's Utah Solutions Summit and held a fundraiser in the state last month.

Clinton hasn't visited the state this year but has dispatched a number of surrogates in the past week, including a two-day stop by former South Dakota Sen. Larry Pressler, a Republican and a Mormon.

Also, Clinton's running mate, Virgina Gov. Tim Kaine, wrote an op-ed piece for the Deseret News on Tuesday focused on the importance of missionary service.

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Kaine wrote about his nine-month stint with Jesuit missionaries in Honduras 36 years ago, saying the most powerful thing he learned is that selfless leadership glorifies and protects others.

"This election season has taught us some uncomfortable lessons, not the least of which is how a person’s religious tradition can be used as a weapon by politicians seeking to capitalize on fear," he wrote.

Rasmussen, who now heads Rasmussen Media Group, said he doesn't think the politicking this week would do much to move the needle among Utah voters. But if Trump pulls closer in the polls, he said he could see Utahns reverting to the Republican on Nov. 8.

Rasmussen and Zinsmeister find themselves in the position of many Utah voters. Zinsmeister said he's not voting at all in the presidential election for the first time in his life. Rasmussen said he plans to vote for a third-party or write-in candidate.

Zinsmeister, vice president of Philanthropy Roundtable, said he admires Trump's "energy and ferocity," but the videotape of the billionaire businessman's lewd comments about women cinched it for him.

"I think our politics was broken long before Trump showed up and needed a bull in the china shop. I just wish it was a more constructive bull," he said.

And Zinsmeister said he can't vote for Clinton because "she is an enabler of a guy who acted exactly the same way."

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