“May it be to the world, what I believe it will be, (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all,) the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government.” [emphasis added] Thomas Jefferson
Peace, Doc On Nov 12, 7:08 pm, Travis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > From: Travis > Subject: "How People of Faith Voted in the 2008 Presidential Race" > > Date: Wednesday, November 12, 2008, > > The ignorant fools! They don't know what they've done! > > May God have mercy on the USA! > > <http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdates> > Image courtesy of istockphoto. click for info <http://www.istockphoto.com/> > Page Tools > > <http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=Subscribe> > <http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdateNarrow&BarnaUpdate...> > > How People of Faith Voted in the 2008 Presidential Race > November 11, 2008 (Ventura, California) - With the nation's longest > election campaign ever finally completed, and Barack Obama emerging as a 53% > to 46% victor over Sen. John McCain, a new election analysis survey by The > Barna Group provides the details of how people of faith voted in 2008. > *Obsession > or Sport?* News about the candidates and the election seemed ubiquitous for > the past 18 months. Overall, two-thirds of all registered voters (67%) said > they followed the 2008 election campaign "very closely" and another > one-quarter (27%) followed it "somewhat closely." People who do not consider > themselves to be Christians followed the campaign slightly more closely than > did those who claim to be Christian (71% versus 67%). To place that interest > level in context, the 2000 election between George W. Bush and Al Gore, > which ended in a dead heat, was followed "very closely" by just 43% of > registered voters. *Evangelicals* Evangelicals are a small proportion of the > national population - just 7% of all adults. But they tend to capture the > imagination and attention of the national media and political pundits. The > survey data consistently show that evangelical Christians have among the > highest rates of voting turnout among all voter groups and are, in fact, > strikingly different from the rest of the population - even from other born > again Christians who are not evangelical. As was true in the past two > presidential elections, two-thirds of all evangelicals who were registered > to vote (65%) were aligned with the Republican Party. One out of five (21%) > was Democrats and just one out of ten (10%) was registered independent of a > party. That puts evangelicals at odds with the national voter profile, which > shows a plurality of Democrats (42%), one-third Republican (34%) and two out > of ten (20%) independent of a party affiliation. Most remarkably, however, > was the overwhelming support registered among evangelicals for Republican > candidate John McCain. In total, 88% voted for Sen. McCain, compared to just > 11% for Sen. Obama. The 88% is statistically identical to the 85% of > evangelicals who backed George W. Bush in 2004. Surveys conducted by Barna > throughout the campaign season showed that evangelicals were not > enthusiastic about either candidate, but on Election Day evangelicals came > through in a big way for the most conservative major candidate on the > ballot. Evangelicals chose their candidate on a different set of indicators > than did other voters. When asked their primary reason for supporting the > candidate they selected, 40% of evangelicals said it was because of the > candidate's position on moral issues. Only 9% of other voters listed that as > their driving reason. Other significant reasons for evangelical voters > included their candidate's political experience (23%) and his character > (15%). Unlike other polls, Barna surveys classify a person as an evangelical > based upon their answers to nine questions about their theological beliefs. > Most national surveys simply ask people if they consider themselves to be > evangelical, born again or a committed conservative Christian. As a result, > evangelicals in Barna surveys are significantly different than the groups > reported in other surveys. For the sake of comparison, the Barna survey also > examined the voting behavior of people who identified themselves as > evangelicals. The self-identified evangelicals represented 41% of the adult > population, although just 16% of them qualified as evangelicals under the > Barna Group's theological-based classification questions. Among the > self-described evangelicals, 61% voted for Sen. McCain and 38% went with > Sen. Obama. (For information about the Barna classification process, see the > "About the Research" section at the end of this article.) *Born Again > Christians* Evangelicals represent just one out of every six born again > adults. The survey data among all born again adults found that they were > much more likely to vote for Sen. McCain (57% did so) than for Sen. Obama > (42%). As substantial as that margin is, the 15-point gap was considerably > less than the 24-point margin accorded to George W. Bush in his 2004 > campaign against Sen. John Kerry. However, it is identical to the 15-point > spread they gave to Mr. Bush in 2000, and more than double the 6-point > margin they gave Sen. Bob Dole in his 1996 loss to Democratic incumbent Bill > Clinton. However, born again Christians in general chose their candidate > based on different criteria than did evangelicals. The major motivations > among born again Christians who are not evangelical were political > experience (20%), ideas about the country's future (18%), character (17%), > and economic policies (17%). To highlight the contrast in priorities, note > that just 7% of evangelicals identified economic policy as a motivator, and > only 8% of the non-evangelical born again Christians listed the candidate's > positions on moral issues. Many observers were surprised to discover that > born again Christians, who are about 43% of the adult population, were just > as likely to be registered as Democrats as Republicans. At the time of the > election, 39% of registered voters who were born again identified themselves > as Democrats, 41% as Republicans, and 16% as independents. *Voters Outside > the Born Again Universe* The majority of the population is not born again > Christians. Among them a much higher proportion was registered as either > Democrats (44%) or independents (24%) than was true among the born again > segment. Barely one-quarter of the non-born again group (27%) was > Republicans. Non-Christians provided Sen. Obama with a lopsided 62% to 36% > margin of preference over Sen. McCain. That 26-point gap surpassed the > 20-point margin the group provided to John Kerry in 2004 and the 15-point > margin awarded to Al Gore in 2000. This shift came primarily from those > non-born again adults who have moderate social and political views. The > non-born again constituency was motivated to support their candidate of > choice largely because of his ideas about the future (28%), economic > policies (16%) and political experience (15%). *Protestants and > Catholics* Protestant > voters were evenly split between being registered as Democrats and > Republicans. However, they sided with Sen. McCain by a 53% to 46% split. > That 7-point gap was just half the margin accorded to George W. Bush in 2004 > (57% to 42%), but within range of the 4-point preference given to Mr. Bush > in 2000 (51% to 47%). Nearly half of all registered Catholics were aligned > with the Democratic Party (48%), compared to only about one-quarter > associated with the Republicans (28%) and one-fifth who remained independent > (20%). Their voting behavior was significantly different than that of > Protestants: they backed Sen. Obama by a 56% to 43% outcome. That was far > different than the even split in 2004 (49% for Pres. Bush vs. 49% for Sen. > Kerry) and substantially more support for the Democratic candidate than they > had given to Al Gore in 2000 (49%, versus 43% to Mr. Bush). *Atheists and > Agnostics* The second largest faith group in America, trailing only the > Christian segment, is atheists and agnostics. These religious skeptics > represent about one out of every ten adults. About four out of ten skeptics > were registered as Democrats, four out of ten as independents and just two > out of ten as Republicans. Three-fourths of atheists and agnostics (76%) > gave their vote to Sen. Obama, while only 23% backed Sen. McCain. That is a > step up from the level of support Democrats have previously received from > skeptics. In 2004, 64% of atheists and agnostics voted for Democratic > challenger John Kerry. *Voters of Non-Christian Faiths* About 5% of > America's adult population associates with faiths other than Christianity > (e.g., Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, etc.). Within this group, about half (47%) > were registered as Democrats, 30% were independent, and one-quarter (23%) > were Republicans. The ballots of this group were most often cast for Barack > Obama (62%) rather than John McCain (36%). The support provided to the > Democratic candidate is identical to the backing this group provided to John > Kerry four years ago (61%). *Assumed Competence* Barna asked voters how well > they thought each candidate would perform as president if he were elected. > The outcome showed that Sen. Obama's constituency was more confident in his > ability as chief executive than Sen. McCain's supporters were of their man's > potential. In addition, McCain supporters were more confident that Sen. > Obama would do well in the position than Obama supporters were about Sen. > McCain's likely performance. Among Sen. McCain's voters, only 74% felt he > would do an excellent or good job as president. In contrast, 91% of Sen. > Obama's supporters said he would perform well. Among Sen. McCain's backers, > 17% felt Sen. Obama would do well if the Democrat were elected. Only 10% of > Sen. Obama's voters felt Sen. McCain would do well in the White House. *The > Influence of Race* Among non-white voters, racial identity played a larger > role in influencing their vote than did their religious beliefs and > affiliations. Assessing the voting outcomes by race and faith, the survey > showed that there were no statistically significant differences between > black born again voters and black non-born again voters. Similarly, there > were no meaningful distinctions in candidate preference between Hispanic > born agains and Hispanic non-born again voters. Overall, ... > > read more » --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
