corrente

Oh, that moral values thing everyone's been buying into. Turns out iWaq and the economy were bigger issues after all. Oops, say the pollsters, sorry we didn't make that clear a lot sooner, y'know, before the fundies spread this manure all over the countryside, crowing about the "shift in values." And before the Dems began talking about having to be more "moderate" and, and and…

…when they were asked an open-ended question about the top issue, Iraq and the economy moved past moral values. Iraq was picked by 27 percent, the economy by 14 percent and moral values tied with terrorism at 9 percent.

"Moral values was an element in the Bush formula, but probably not the driving one," said Lee Miringoff, president of the National Council of Public Polls.

The Pew poll found that voters' reasons for picking "moral values" varies. Just over four in 10 of those who picked "moral values" from the list mentioned social issues like gay marriage and abortion, but others talked about qualities like religion, helping the poor, and candidates' honesty and strength of leadership.

"We did not see any indication that social conservative issues like abortion, gay rights and stem cell research were anywhere near as important as the economy and Iraq," said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center. "'Moral values' is a phrase that's very attractive to people."
The Pew survey was taken Nov. 5-8 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. Survey: Format Influenced Voter Priorities

Odd thing, though--if the economy and iWaq were indeed bigger issues, and if exit polls also showed a Kerry lead, how the fuck, oops, I mean heck, did we end up with aWol in the White House again? It just doesn't add up. At all.