Poll Shows Social Issues Other Than Abortion Led Religious Voters Toward Obama

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Public Health
Article Date: 19 Nov 2008 - 8:00 PST

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Recent polling data indicate that President-elect Barack Obama's victory was "aided by the emergence of a new and diverse religious coalition" that strongly values social issues like poverty and the environment in addition to abortion, the Toledo Blade reports. Robert Jones -- president of Public Religion Research, which conducted the poll -- said a key finding is that 55% of evangelical Christians and 51% of Catholics said the political agendas that best reflect their values include the issues of poverty, the environment, war and peace, abortion and same-sex marriage. By contrast, only 21% of evangelicals and 13% of Catholics said their views are best reflected by agendas that focus narrowly on abortion and same-sex marriage. Overall, 70% of voters across all religious groups said the economy was the most important issue, followed by the Iraq war (35%), health care (31%), terrorism (19%), abortion rights (14%) and same-sex marriage (6%) (Yonke, Toledo Blade, 11/15). The poll found that 54% of voters view Obama as "friendly to religion" -- about the same as Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.). In addition, the poll showed broad support for seeking common ground on reducing the number of abortions, regardless of political party or religious affiliation. The poll was commissioned by Faith in Public Life, Sojourners: Christians for Justice and Peace and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good.

According to the Dallas Morning News, the addition of Gov. Sarah Palin (Alaska) as the Republican vice presidential nominee energized the white evangelical base of the Republican Party but did not attract support from the rest of religious electorate, which "cost the ticket votes." The poll found that 30% of white evangelicals said the addition of Palin made them more likely to vote for McCain, and 75% of white evangelicals said Palin shared their values. However, 54% of white evangelicals said Palin made no difference in their support of McCain. In addition, 14% of white evangelicals and 32% of political independents said Palin's presence on the ticket made them less likely to vote for McCain (Slater, Dallas Morning News, 11/15).

According to the Blade, support for Obama across races and religious groups enabled him to win "decisively," despite the fact that McCain won 75% of the white evangelical vote. Jim Wallis -- CEO of Sojourners and editor-in-chief of Sojourners magazine -- said, "For the first time in an election, the religion story is not only about white evangelicals ... We are seeing the emergence now of what I would call a new faith coalition," which includes Roman Catholics, Protestants, younger white Christians, students, blacks and Hispanics. Wallis said the poll results show "there is still a deep conviction on the sanctity of life, but that won't be reduced anymore to just abortion." Alexia Kelley, executive director of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, the poll "offers compelling evidence that Catholics support a broad social justice agenda that reflects a consistent life ethic and a concern for the common good." Kelley added, "It is a mistake to treat abortion and social justice issues separately. Abortion is a social justice issue" (Toledo Blade, 11/15).

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