The Values Myth

It has become a basic assumption of the 2004 Presidential elections that the “values” issues of gay marriage and abortion rights tipped the election. While these issues may have motivated religious conservatives to up their turnout the idea that religious conservative views on abortion and homosexuality were foremost in the minds of voters in the United States may be a little off the mark. Note this story in the November 10 Washington Post:

Battling the notion that "values voters" swept President Bush to victory because of opposition to gay marriage and abortion, three liberal groups released a post-election poll in which 33 percent of voters said the nation's most urgent moral problem was "greed and materialism" and 31 percent said it was "poverty and economic justice." Sixteen percent cited abortion, and 12 percent named same-sex marriage.