catholicsphere

Deal Hudson writes on What the Election Means for Religious Conservatives

He begins…

In a national conference call with religious conservatives, Sen. Sam Brownback said that President Bush squandered the mandate of the 2004 election by pursuing social security reform when he could have taken action on an important social issue, such as the federal marriage issue.

Actually, had the President taken action on any “important social issue” things might have been different.

Also on the conference call was Michael Schwartz, chief of staff to Sen. Tom Coburn, who stressed that the “election was not Democrats vs. Republicans but Republican promises vs. Republican performance, and corruption and the failure to deal with critical issues — immigration, Iraq, energy — led voters to lose confidence in the Republican Party.”

This is really the crux of what happened here. “Republican promises vs. Republican performance”. Conservative voters decided to give moderate Democrats an opportunity to do something, given that conservative Republicans have let them down. Folks realized that you can only “stay the course” if you’re making progress.

Obviously, Republican candidate did not run on moral issues platforms, as they did in 2000 and 2004, because most knew that they’d be faced with defending an administration that had done little to nothing on those issues.

Also in the article, were the percentages of Catholic voters who voted Democratic…

Among voters who attend church at least once a week (45% of the electorate), 53% voted Republican and 43% voted Democrat. (Down 5 points for the GOP from 2004 and up 4 points for the Democrats.)

Among those who attend church “occasionally” (38% of the electorate), 59% voted Democrat and 39% voted Republican. (Up 5 points for the Democrats from 2004.)

Among those who say they never attend church (15% of the electorate), 67% voted Democrat and 30% voted Republican. (Up 5 points for the Democrats from 2004.)

It seems obvious that the pattern continues … those who are weekly church attenders are more likely to vote Republican. However, its the “swing voters” in that group that really gauges how the election goes.

This election was damaging to Republicans … but not to conservative voters. Unlike Mr. Hudson, I tend to believe that 2008 is going to be a big challenge for Republicans. It is not simply a matter of the Democrats self-destructing. Rather, the Republicans will have to demonstrate progress, even though they’ve lost the Congress. And, the Roberts’ Supreme Court might be the only place where such progress can be demonstrated.

Keep your eyes open

[tags]election, republican, democrat, politics, conservative, morals, faith, catholic[/tags]