Hostname: page-component-686fd747b7-dj48d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-13T11:56:59.038Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The “Myth” of Moral Values Voting in the 2004 Presidential Election

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2008

Kenneth Mulligan
Kenneth Mulligan
Affiliation:
Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

“Which ONE issue mattered most in deciding how you voted for president?” This survey question, which appeared on the 2004 National Election Pool (NEP) exit poll, attracted as much controversy as any in recent years. More respondents chose “moral values” than any other issue. Among this 22% of respondents, 80% voted for President Bush. Initially, news reporters and pundits interpreted this finding as indicating that moral values played a decisive role in Bush's victory. The morning after the election, Chris Matthews, host of the MSNBC program Hardball, suggested the election was “a referendum on values” (“Chris Matthews Gives his Assessment”). Tim Russert, host of NBC's Meet the Press, said that “People had an agenda. They put their moral values ahead of some of their economic interests” (“Analysis”). A reporter for the CBS Morning News concluded that “in the end, the number-one voter motivator [was] morality” (“Morality Proves Number One”).

Type
FEATURES
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 41 , Issue 1 , January 2008 , pp. 109 - 114
Copyright
© 2008 The American Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abramowitz, Alan I. 1997. “The Cultural Divide in American Politics: Moral Issues and Presidential Voting.” In Understanding Public Opinion, ed. Clyde Wilcox and Barbara Norrander. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press.Google Scholar
“Analysis on [sic] the Effectiveness of the Democratic and Republican Campaigns.” Nov. 4, 2004. Today (Television Program on NBC). Transcript retrieved from Lexis-Nexis.Google Scholar
Ansolabehere, Stephen, Jonathan Rodden, and James M. Snyder Jr. 2006. “Purple America.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 20: 97–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arnold, Laura W., and Herbert F. Weisberg. 1996. “Parenthood, Family Values, and the 1992 Presidential Election.” American Politics Quarterly 24: 194–220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blendon, Robert J., John M. Benson, Mollyann Brodie, Drew E. Altman, Richard Morin, Claudia Deane, and Ann E. Steffenson. 2001. “Voting Values.” Public Perspective January/February: 38–41.Google Scholar
Brewer, Mark D., and Jeffrey M. Stonecash. 2006. Split: Class and Cultural Divides in American Politics. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, David E. 2006. “A House Divided? What Social Science has to Say about the Culture War.” William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal 15: 59–74.Google Scholar
Campbell, David E., and J. Quin Monson. 2006. “The Religion Card: Gay Marriage and the 2004 Election.” Under Review.Google Scholar
“Chris Matthews Gives his Assessment of the Election.” Nov. 3, 2004. Today (Television Program on NBC). Transcript retrieved from Lexis-Nexis.Google Scholar
Conover, Pamela Johnston, and Stanley Feldman. 1986. “Morality Items on the 1985 Pilot Study.” NES Pilot Study Report No. nes002251.Google Scholar
Feldman, Stanley. 1988. “Structure and Consistency in Public Opinion: The Role of Core Beliefs and Values.” American Journal of Political Science 32: 416–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fiorina, Morris P. 2004. “‘Holy War’ over Moral Values or Contempt for Opinion?” San Francisco Chronicle Nov. 21, B5.Google Scholar
Fiorina, Morris P., Samuel J. Abrams, and Jeremy C. Pope. 2006. Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America, 2nd ed. New York: Pearson Longman.Google Scholar
Green, John C., James L. Guth, Lyman A. Kellstedt, and Corwin E. Smidt. 2001a. “Faith in the Vote.” Public Perspective (March/April): 33–5.Google Scholar
Green, John C., James L. Guth, Lyman A. Kellstedt, and Corwin E. Smidt. 2001b. “How the Faithful Voted: Religion and the 2000 Presidential Election.” Center Conversations, Newsletter 10 (March). Washington, D.C.: Ethics and Public Policy Center.Google Scholar
Green, John C., James L. Guth, Lyman A. Kellstedt, and Corwin E. Smidt. 1997. “Who Elected Clinton: A Collision of Values.” First Things 75: 35–40.Google Scholar
Green, John C., Corwin E. Smidt, James L. Guth, and Lyman A. Kellstedt. 2005. “The American Religious Landscape and the 2004 Presidential Vote: Increased Polarization.” Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. pewforum.org/publications/surveys/postelection.pdf#search=%22guth%22 (November 4, 2007).Google Scholar
Guth, James L., Lyman A. Kellstedt, John C. Green, and Corwin E. Smidt. 2001. “America Fifty/Fifty.” First Things 116: 19–26.Google Scholar
Hammond, Phillip E., Mark A. Shibley, and Peter M. Solow. 1994. “Religion and Family Values in Presidential Voting.” Sociology of Religion 55: 277–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hillygus, Sunshine D., and Todd G. Shields. 2005. “Moral Issues and Voter Decision Making in the 2004 Presidential Election.” PS: Political Science and Politics 38 (2): 201–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunter, James D. 1991. Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Hurwitz, Jon, and Mark Peffley. 1987. “How Are Foreign Policy Attitudes Structured? A Hierarchical Model.” American Political Science Review 81 (4): 1099–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobs, Lawrence R. 2004. “Moral Values Takes Back Seat to Partisanship and the Economy in the 2004 Presidential Election.” Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, Center for the Study of Politics. www.hhh.umn.edu/img/assets/23537/Moral%20Values%20Take%20Back%20Seat%20to%20Partisanship%20and%20the%20Economy.pdf. (November 4, 2007).Google Scholar
Jacobs, Lawrence R., and Robert Y. Shapiro. 2005. “Polling Politics, Media, and Election Campaigns.” Public Opinion Quarterly 69: 635–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kellstedt, Lyman A., John C. Green, James L. Guth, and Corwin E. Smidt. 1994a. “It's the Culture, Stupid! 1992 and Our Political Future.” First Things 42: 28–33.Google Scholar
Kellstedt, Lyman A., John C. Green, James L. Guth, and Corwin E. Smidt. 1994b. “Religious Voting Blocs in the 1992 Election: The Year of the Evangelical?” Sociology of Religion 55: 307–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, Gary, Michael Tomz, and Jason Wittenberg. 2000. “Making the Most of Statistical Analyses: Improving Interpretation and Presentation.” American Journal of Political Science 44: 347–361.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krauthammer, Charles. 2004. “Moral Values ‘Myth.’” Washington Post Nov. 12, A25.Google Scholar
Langer, Gary E. 2004. “A Question of Values.” New York Times Nov. 6, A19.Google Scholar
Langer, Gary E., and Jon Cohen. 2005. “Voters and Values in the 2004 Election.” Public Opinion Quarterly 69: 744–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Layman, Geoffrey C. 2001. The Great Divide: Religious and Cultural Conflict in American Party Politics. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Layman, Geoffrey C. 1997. “Religion and Political Behavior in the United States.” Public Opinion Quarterly 61: 288–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Layman, Geoffrey C., and Edward G. Carmines. 1997. “Cultural Conflict in American Politics: Religious Traditionalism, Postmaterialism, and U.S. Political Behavior.” Journal of Politics 59: 751–77.Google Scholar
Layman, Geoffrey C., and John C. Green. 2005. “Wars and Rumors of Wars: The Contexts of Cultural Conflict in American Political Behavior.” British Journal of Political Science 36: 61–89.Google Scholar
Los Angeles Times Poll. November 7, 2000. Study no. 449, National Exit Poll. www.latimesinteractive.com/pdfarchive/stat_sheets/la-timespoll449ss.pdf (November 4, 2007).Google Scholar
Meyer, Dick. 2004. “The Anatomy of a Myth.” Washington Post Dec. 5, B1.Google Scholar
Miller, Warren E., and J. Merrill Shanks. 1996. The New American Voter. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Mockabee, Stephen T. 2007. “A Question of Authority: Religion and Cultural Conflict in the 2004 Election.” Political Behavior 29: 221–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
“Morality Proves the Number-One Motivator for Voters in the Presidential Election.” Nov. 4, 2004. CBS Morning News (Television Program). Transcript retrieved from Lexis-Nexis.Google Scholar
Stoker, Laura L. 1987. “Morality and Politics: Conduct and Control.” NES Pilot Study Report No. nes002273.Google Scholar
Tomz, Michael, Jason Wittenberg, and Gary King. 2003. “Clarify: Software for Interpreting and Presenting Statistical Results.” http://weber.ucsd.edu/∼tkousser/Beck%20Notes/clarify%20documentation.pdf (November 4, 2007).Google Scholar
Weisberg, Herbert F. 2005. “The Structure and Effects of Moral Predispositions in Contemporary American Politics.” Journal of Politics 67: 649–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, John Kenneth. 2003. The Values Divide: American Politics and Culture in Transition. New York: Chatham House.Google Scholar