Christian Political Power

Yes, I am equating "Moral" and "Christian." (Hey, the left does it every time they want to bash morals.)

Political power? Do we have it?

The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press's quadrennial post-election survey found that moral values really was the top factor in deciding for whom to vote—and at even bigger numbers than those troublesome exit polls: 27 percent for moral values, 22 percent for Iraq, 21 percent for "economy/jobs", 14 percent for terrorism/security.

Really?

But here's the catch: Moral values only wins out when you ask voters to pick the issue that mattered most among that list (along with health care, education, and taxes). If you just ask, "What one issue mattered most to you in deciding how you voted for President?" the war in Iraq is the runaway winner, with 25 percent. Then it's economy/jobs (12%), moral values (9%) and terrorism/security (8%).
Even if you add in "honesty/integrity" (5%), abortion (3%), and "the candidate's religiosity/morals" (2%), you still don't compete with Iraq.

Bigger news: No one said that marriage or stem-cell research was the number-one issue that mattered in their voting. (The survey did allow for, but didn't ask for secondary responses on that question: 2% gave marriage as a second response, 1% gave stem-cell research).

"We did not see any indication that social conservative issues like abortion, gay rights, and stem-cell research were anywhere near as important as the economy and Iraq," Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center, told the Associated Press.

"Moral values is a phrase that's very attractive to people."

Well, what now? CT has this.

Christians are caught in the middle, presently divided. According to recently released polling data, born-again whites supported President Bush by a 72-27 margin. The contrast was even more dramatic, but reversed, among born-again blacks, who supported Senator Kerry 85-15. Each constituency is vital to its political sponsor's survival. Born-again Hispanics, composing nearly 50 percent of voters in that emerging swing ethnic group, supported Bush 56-44. In general, Christians who vote Democrat tout the government's obligation to promote economic equality, but downplay the political leadership's impact on sexual norms and abortion. Conversely, Christians who vote Republican know well the government's cultural impact. But they frequently brush aside the structural impediments to economic fairness.

Hard to quantify, but interesting.