Regarding that, here’s some interesting stats from http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/1664/:
Exit polls tell us that about a third of Bush supporters in Tuesday’s election said they backed the president because of “moral values.” In the 14 most competitive states—where almost three in 10 voters overall described themselves as born-again Christians, higher than the national total—moral values topped the list of the most important issues facing America. Nationwide, nearly a quarter of voters said faith guided them this election season.
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Not only did a record number of self-identified Christians cast ballots this year, Bush beat John Kerry in all religious categories except among Jews, three-quarters of whom supported the senator. Despite being the first Roman Catholic nominated for president since John Kennedy in 1960, Kerry lost soundly to Bush among white Catholics 56 percent to 43 percent. And though Bush hasn’t attended church in two years and Kerry routinely attends Mass, Bush received 40 percent of the vote from weekly churchgoers. Among white, religious conservatives that number jumped to 95 percent.
<snip>
Fearing they forever will be in the minority without a religious conversion, some Democrats now are calling for a reevaluation of their values to appeal to this bloc—given that the party’s image as godless, gay-loving and weak on defense is contrary to the country’s shift toward a more thorough faith-based society. As argued by Chris Duncan, chairman of the University of Dayton political science department: “On questions of moral values, the image is of Democrats being in part sort of hostile to some of the real concerns people have in terms of values. Whether right or wrong, these are big issues for a significant portion of the electorate, and the Democrats are really putting themselves in the position of being a minority party for a long time if they can’t reconcile themselves with some of these issues.”
But all this talk—and the Democrats’ seeming need for quadrennial bloodlettings no matter the outcome of elections—overlooks one important fact: The same exit polls that signal a national trend toward religious conservatism indicate a continuing progressive attitude toward social issues. Fifty-five percent, for instance, said abortion should be mostly or always legal, steady since 2000, and 61 percent said same-sex couples should have the right to marry or have civil unions. And when asked about the most important quality a presidential candidate could have, only 8 percent cited religious faith. Yes, Bush won the popular vote, but he did so in no greater numbers than those formerly disaffected evangelicals targeted for turnout by Republicans this year. In other words, Bush required these people to win precisely because his isn’t a consensus view.
dre2xl
November 7, 2004, 2:43am
82
Seems like a wash to me, since voters’ stances on issues didn’t change towards the conservative. In my opinion, I think we’ll begin seeing more candidates from both extremes because of better organization and mobilization through the Internet, because let’s face it, moderates are a lot more apathetic than left-wingers and right-wingers. So we’ll see Michael Moore versus Ann Coulter in 2008. Joy.
In a naked jello wrestling contest . . .
Sorry for the non sequitur. And for putting that image into your head. It’s late and I’m feeling punchy.