Religion Figures Big in Bush Win

Evangelical Christians and Catholics, who have already become a closely watched swing vote, favored Bush over Democrat John Kerry by 52 percent to47 percent, according to national exit polls.

That is a shift from the 2000 showing of Bush, when he got 47 percent to Democrat Al Gore’s 50 percent of the same votes, especially the Catholics.

Bush was propelled by the strong support of evangelical Christians and a notable showing among regular churchgoing Catholics and mainline Protestants, analysts said.

“Yes, they were a huge part of President Bush’s victory, not so much nationally but in the particular states where he needed to win,” said Steven Waldman, editor-in-chief of Beliefnet.com, an Internet site that reports on religious issues.

“Making values and ethics central to a political campaign was the main factor for this strong support,” said Tom Barry, policy director at the Inter-hemispheric Resource Center (IRC), a New Mexico-based group dedicated to advancing citizen-based agenda.

Immediately after the results became apparent Wednesday, November3 , many leaders of Christian groups were quick to claim credit for the Bush victory and pledged to press ahead with their agenda of issues ranging from the so-called “war on terrorism” to anti-abortion legislation and a ban on same-sex marriages.

‘Moral Issues’

“It is clear that one of the major factors in this presidential race was the strong turnout of the faith and pro-life communities,” said Reverend Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, a group that works to end abortion and lobbies for more open display of religious affiliations and symbols in public life.

“Moral issues played a major role across the country,” he added in a statement.

Mahoney said Christian groups will use their demonstrated clout to further influence policies developed in the White House, focusing particularly on an abortion ban.

“We will now bring this new found political influence to bear on the White House,” he said.

“Our first effort will focus on the nomination of a pro-life Supreme Court Justice.”

“The defense of innocent unborn human life, the protection of marriage, and the nomination and confirmation of federal judges who will interpret the constitution, not make law from the bench, must be first priorities, come January,” added James Kennedy, president of Coral Ridge Ministries.

“It may be that America may yet return to a recognition of the importance of religion and morality in public life.”

Some 42 percent of total votes cast Tuesday were from people who attend church at least once a week. Nearly 22 percent of the electorate was comprised of “white evangelicals” or “born again” Christians, according to exit polls.

Nationally, Kerry won 47 percent of the Catholic vote to Bush’s 52 percent, according to those polls, but in the battleground state of Florida, Bush beat his challenger with 55 percent of Catholic support. In Ohio, the state that determined the election, Bush beat Kerry53 – 46percent.

Catholics make up about 27 percent of the US population while Protestants account for 54 percent.

It is worth noting here that Kerry is the first Catholic presidential candidate since the1960 s. Bush is Evangelical.

Bush also benefited from an increase in popularity among Protestants, and Jews compared to2000 , exit polls found.

He won 59 percent of the Protestant vote (up three percent over2000 ) and 25 percent of the Jewish vote (a six-percent jump).

More Support

The Ohio state is drafting a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage and civil unions. The proposal was endorsed, by a substantial margin, by the state’s voters Tuesday.

“President Bush’s victory in Ohio is a major accomplishment for the Bush-Cheney ticket,” said Father John Putka, a lecturer in political science at the University of Dayton in Ohio, one of the country’s largest Catholic universities.

“This placed an emphasis on traditional moral values and helped to produce a substantial surge in new voters from the evangelical and ‘born again’ Christian parts of the electorate,” said Putka in a statement.

After voters in 10 other states backed proposals to ban same-sex marriages, Christian groups predicted Wednesday the issue could become a defining one in US politics, possibly second only to abortion.

“Bush’s strength among conservative Christians put huge swaths of the country simply out of reach for Kerry,” wrote Waldman and John Green on Beliefnet.com.

Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia had implored the archdiocese’s1 .5 million Catholics that they had a “duty” to vote for antiabortion candidates. His influence was not clear because exit polls did not break down the Catholic vote by county.

Aggressive Postures

Analysts warned that a stronger conservative Christian agenda will mean more aggressive postures by Bush, both at home and abroad.

“The Bush victory … will allow the radical policy agenda of the Christian conservatives and the neo-conservatives, both in foreign and domestic policy, to continue moving forward at a frightening pace,” said Barry.

“I think that given this clear mandate and support for a foreign agenda that, home and aboard, is so radical and so explicitly re-orders a liberal system at home and a multilateral system abroad, it (the administration) will purse those policies with more confidence,” he added.

Observers said that would undermine opposition to the US-led occupation of Iraq despite finding no weapons of mass destruction – the main justification for invading the oil-rich country.

They warned that the decisive win could embolden the president to order strikes against other countries on his administration’s "hit list" and offer further support to Israel.

Long-term Tactics

A major US daily elaborated on the issue of religion and the significant role it played in reinstating Bush to the White House for four more years, focusing on the planning of Bush to win “religious votes” long before the Tuesday, November2 , race.

“If a White House photographer with a keen eye for American religious trends were documenting President Bush’s moves the past four years, here are some snapshots that would show up in a retrospective album,” the New York Times started an article entitled “President Benefits From Efforts to Build a Coalition of Religious Voters”.

“The president framed by a nun and a cardinal on a visit to an urban Roman Catholic school; the president screening a Holocaust film in the White House one evening with a small group of Jewish leaders he had invited over; the president bowing his head before addressing an evangelical congregation.

“For the past four years, Mr. Bush has been deliberately assembling the building blocks of a formidable faith coalition. Pastor by pastor, rabbi by rabbi, and often face to face, Mr. Bush has built relationships with a diverse range of religious leaders.”