Many Religious Voters Place Economy Ahead Of Hot Button Social Issues

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Public Health;  Abortion
Article Date: 10 Nov 2008 - 5:00 PST

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The economic crisis "dominated" the priorities of religious voters who typically vote based on issues such as abortion rights, helping President-elect Barack Obama to "cut into the so-called God gap" and win votes that usually go to Republican candidates, the AP/Kansas City Star reports. Exit polls showed that Obama won nearly all black Protestants, was supported by a strong majority of Hispanic Roman Catholics and Protestants, and fared better than 2004 Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry (Mass.) among white Catholics and white evangelicals, especially young white evangelicals. McCain carried white evangelicals by about a 3-1 margin -- somewhat less than George Bush in 2004 -- with McCain's support from white evangelicals in swing states such as Colorado and Ohio below Bush. In exit polls, about one-third of white evangelicals under age 30 favored Obama, compared with less than one-quarter of white evangelicals between ages 30 and 64.

Experts said poll data "don't suggest a fundamental reshaping of religion's role in electing presidents, but they do show Obama made progress on important fronts that hold promise for future Democratic religious coalitions that cross racial lines," according to the AP/Star. John Green, a senior fellow at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, said of Obama's religious supporters, "This is a coalition that includes white Christians. It's just white Christians aren't the senior partners in this coalition."

Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput -- who strongly criticized Obama during the campaign for supporting abortion rights -- said the economy, Obama's attractiveness as a candidate and the "explicitly religion-friendly public relations" of the Democratic Party played a role in shifting Roman Catholic voters toward Obama. However, he added, "The more serious Catholics are about their faith -- in other words, where they invest their time, conviction and behavior -- the less likely they were to vote for [Obama]." Stephen Schneck -- director of the Life Cycle Institute at the Catholic University of America -- said Catholics were drawn to Obama because of his emphasis on service, pragmatic solution, the communal good and "raising the quality of life for the least among us." (Gorski, AP/Kansas City Star, 11/5). Many Religious Voters Place Economy Ahead of Hot Button Social Issues
[Nov. 7, 2008]

The economic crisis "dominated" the priorities of religious voters who typically vote based on issues such as abortion rights, helping President-elect Barack Obama to "cut into the so-called God gap" and win votes that usually go to Republican candidates, the AP/Kansas City Star reports. Exit polls showed that Obama won nearly all black Protestants, was supported by a strong majority of Hispanic Roman Catholics and Protestants, and fared better than 2004 Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry (Mass.) among white Catholics and white evangelicals, especially young white evangelicals. McCain carried white evangelicals by about a 3-1 margin -- somewhat less than George Bush in 2004 -- with McCain's support from white evangelicals in swing states such as Colorado and Ohio below Bush. In exit polls, about one-third of white evangelicals under age 30 favored Obama, compared with less than one-quarter of white evangelicals between ages 30 and 64.

Experts said poll data "don't suggest a fundamental reshaping of religion's role in electing presidents, but they do show Obama made progress on important fronts that hold promise for future Democratic religious coalitions that cross racial lines," according to the AP/Star. John Green, a senior fellow at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, said of Obama's religious supporters, "This is a coalition that includes white Christians. It's just white Christians aren't the senior partners in this coalition."

Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput -- who strongly criticized Obama during the campaign for supporting abortion rights -- said the economy, Obama's attractiveness as a candidate and the "explicitly religion-friendly public relations" of the Democratic Party played a role in shifting Roman Catholic voters toward Obama. However, he added, "The more serious Catholics are about their faith -- in other words, where they invest their time, conviction and behavior -- the less likely they were to vote for [Obama]." Stephen Schneck -- director of the Life Cycle Institute at the Catholic University of America -- said Catholics were drawn to Obama because of his emphasis on service, pragmatic solution, the communal good and "raising the quality of life for the least among us." (Gorski, AP/Kansas City Star, 11/5).

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