Parting The Red Sea

Ignore the religious vote.  This thinking has been the conventional wisdom of the Democratic Party for decades; we cannot win religious voters so there is no point wasting the time and money trying to do so.  As a result, we restricted ourselves to an electoral map that resembled a sea of red washing up against narrow blue landmasses to the east and west.  Nevermind that Democrats only had control of the White House for three terms since 1968 until the present, and that of the two men from our Party who did succeed in claiming the highest office, one was self-professed born-again Christian, and the other routinely laced his speeches with religious rhetoric and was the first to seriously commit to programs we now call ‘faith-based initiatives‘.  The forbidding “religious vote” was a mountain no one thought we could scale, so the strategy was to go around it.  But as the latest poll released by Faith in Public Life reveals, a little faith (and a lot of hard work) can move mountains.

There are a lot of fascinating findings in this poll, so it is well worth a read.  Here I will lay out just a few points that jumped out at me.

The Economy

It should be no surprise that the economy was the top concern listed among voters in nearly every demographic.  Compared with 48% of the entire electorate who said that the economy was the single most important issue, 54% of Catholics and 32% of white evangelicals responded the same way.  When asked about their top two most important issues, the economy was cited by 77% of Catholics (followed by the Iraq war at 36%, healthcare at 30%, abortion at 16% and same-sex marriage at 4%) and 60% of white evangelicals (followed by abortion 30%, Iraq 27%, terrorism 25% and same-sex marriage 14%).

Given that Obama increased his support among every single religious group over Kerry’s performance four years ago, it would be easy to look at these numbers and say that this time around religious voters were voting their wallets and not their values.  This, however, would be an overly simplistic reading based on an outdated paradigm of what constitutes a values issue.  As Burns Strider has argued, for millions of Americans, the economy is a moral issue.  The Catholic Church has a long history of advocating for the basic right to work with dignity.  With a plurality of voters (38%) saying they believe the primary cause of the current economic crisis is corporate excess and greed, the biblical principles of storing up treasure in heaven or returning a cloak given as payment for a debt so that the owner does not freeze in the night are certainly relevant.  Of course the economy matters to religious voters because they too have mortgages to pay, and children to feed.  But it also matters because it reflects our priorities as a nation.  Are we going to be a nation that gives tax breaks to the rich and spends billions of dollars on war to gain access to a source of fuel that is destroying our planet?  Or are we going to be a nation that uses our vast wealth to make it possible for people to build homes and live in them, plant food and eat of it, and bear children who are not destined for calamity?  The economy is a moral values issue.

Abortion

The issue of abortion continues to divide the American public with 52% saying it should be legal in all or most cases and 42% saying it should be illegal in all or most cases.  Not surprisingly, white evangelicals showed strong support for making abortion illegal (69%, compared with 45% among Catholics).  Despite this divide, however, the poll also reveals that as a nation we do not have to remain lodged in a permanent stalemate over this issue.  An overwhelming 83% of voters agree with the statement “elected leaders on both sides of the abortion debate should work together to find ways to reduce the number of abortions by enacting policies that help prevent unintended pregnancies, expand adoption, and increase economic support for women who wish to carry their pregnancies to term.”  The numbers for white evangelicals and Catholics are 86% and 81% respectively.

When the paradigm for engaging abortions is shifted from whether they should be legal, to how do we reduce abortion rates, this issue becomes a winner for Democrats.  Obama wrote into this year’s Democratic Party platform the most aggressive abortion reduction plan either party has ever purposed.  Democrats have long supported policies that help prevent unintended pregnancies, provide pre- and post-natal healthcare for expecting mothers and aid families so that they have the resources to properly care for their children.  This radio ad, which ran in over 10 states leading up to the election, is an example of how we can change the tone of this conversation and move beyond the morass we have been stuck in for decades.

The Lesson for Democrats

Faith in Public Life’s poll provides compelling evidence for why Democrats should no longer write off the religious vote as unattainable.  When asked what range of issues people of faith should focus on, 74% of religious voters said that they should address all issues that are central to their faith rather than just one or two issues, even if it makes them less politically effective.  A large majority (73%) of voters went on to say that people of faith should advocate policies that promote the common good over ones that protect their own values.  Also significant is that when asked how the new administration should address the current economic crisis, voters listed as their top priorities investing in renewable energy, cutting government spending, and providing affordable healthcare.  These are Democratic strengths!  All of these numbers indicate a potential for Democrats to make significant inroads into religious communities if they are willing to make the effort.  Compared with previous Democratic campaigns, this cycle Obama engaged in extensive faith outreach.  The result was that Obama was just as likely as McCain to be perceived as being “friendly” to religion.  But whereas McCain’s numbers (58%) mirrored perceptions of the Republican Party’s “friendliness” (52%), Obama superseded Democratic numbers by 16 points (54% to 38%).  And whereas Obama made gains from 2004 among every religious group, in regions with targeted faith outreach, his numbers far exceeded his national average.

Religious voters need not be dismissed as an unattainable portion of the electorate.  Democrats can and should reach out to them, appealing to the values they hold in common.  On some issues, this will mean reframing old debates; on others engagement will require demonstrating we understand the important role moral values have in shaping policy.  If we do this, we no longer need to be contented with claiming the blue boarder lands on the electoral map.  If we seriously reach out to religious voters, we can part the red sea.