{"id":1246,"date":"2012-10-04T23:38:00","date_gmt":"2012-10-04T23:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/presidential-debate-reflects-catholic-concerns-over-economy\/"},"modified":"2012-10-04T23:38:00","modified_gmt":"2012-10-04T23:38:00","slug":"presidential-debate-reflects-catholic-concerns-over-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/10\/presidential-debate-reflects-catholic-concerns-over-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"Presidential debate reflects Catholic concerns over economy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Washington D.C., Oct 4, 2012 \/ 05:38 pm (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Economic issues dominated the discussion at the first presidential debate of the election season, reflecting the widespread concern among Catholics, along with other American voters, about the national economy.<\/p>\n

\tFrank Newport, editor in chief of Gallup, told CNA that when American voters are asked to rank election issues in order of importance, \u201cthe economy swamps everything else.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tOct. 3 marked the first presidential debate of the 2012 election season. President Barack Obama and Republican candidate Mitt Romney squared off in a 90-minute debate at the University of Denver in Colorado.<\/p>\n

\tThe debate had a largely economic tone, as candidates talked about the nation\u2019s struggling economy, high unemployment levels and soaring debt. They also discussed the role of government, health care reform and aid programs such as Social Security and Medicare.<\/p>\n

\tRomney charged that Obama has failed to provide effective economic leadership over the past four years, while the president argued that Romney\u2019s plan to reduce the deficit without raising taxes is unrealistic.<\/p>\n

\tProminent moral issues such as abortion, \u201cgay marriage\u201d and the federal contraception mandate were not discussed in the first meeting of the two contenders.<\/p>\n

\tHowever, when asked about the federal deficit, Romney responded, \u201cI think it\u2019s not just an economic issue. I think it\u2019s a moral issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI think it\u2019s frankly not moral for my generation to keep spending massively more than we take in, knowing those burdens are going to be passed on to the next generation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\tNewport explained that it is hard to judge how many Catholics would agree with Romney\u2019s assessment of the debt as a critical \u201cmoral issue\u201d because the question has not been commonly raised in polls.<\/p>\n

\tHowever, he said, \u201cCatholics are average on a lot of things\u201d and tend to be representative of the general electorate on many campaign issues.<\/p>\n

\tIn September, Gallup asked voters about their perceptions of where the economy was headed. Newport said that \u201cCatholics were exactly like the overall average.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tAmong all Americans, 41 percent believed the economy was getting better, while 54 percent believed it was getting worse. Among Catholics, 41 percent believed the economy was getting better, while 53 percent believed it was getting worse.<\/p>\n

\tNewport said that this pattern of Catholics tending to \u201cmirror\u201d the general American electorate holds true on many topics. And U.S. voters consistently rank the economy at the top of their list of concerns in this election, he added.<\/p>\n

\tIn August, The Catholic Association commissioned Magellan Strategies to conduct a poll of about 2,600 likely Catholic voters.<\/p>\n

\tSeventy-two percent of respondents agreed that \u201cAmerica\u2019s exploding federal debt hurts the poor the most.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tSixty-six percent said \u201cCatholics can disagree about the best way to serve the poor\u2013for example, favoring private charity over government programs \u2013 without being 'bad' Catholics.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tWhile flash polls indicated that viewers overwhelmingly believed that Romney won the debate, the political results of the event can be difficult to measure, due to the \u201chuge flow of events and information\u201d entering the political playing field in the month of October, Newport explained.<\/p>\n

\tDebates can make a difference, both individually and collectively, but \u201cit\u2019s hard to pinpoint how much,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\tWhile he believes that the Oct. 3 debate had the potential to influence voters, Newport said its relative gravity ultimately depends on a number of factors.<\/p>\n

\tThe remaining debates, changes in unemployment and paid advertising in swing states could all contribute to the final outcome of the election in ways that are not yet realized, the pollster stated.<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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