[Marxism] Moral Values and exit polls

[Rod Holt <rholt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Nov. 4, 2004, Jurriaan wrote:
To me, the real shocker in the election result is that, as the NYT noted
this morning, Americans said they were motivated to vote for President
Bush by "moral values" as much as anything else.
"...what gave him the edge in the election, which he won 51 percent to
48 percent, was a perceived sense of morality and traditional values.
Asked what one issue mattered most to them in choosing a president,
"moral values" ranked at the top with the economy/jobs, terrorism and
the war in Iraq.
Trailing significantly were health care, taxes and education. Of the
people who chose "moral values" as their top issue, 80 percent voted for
Mr. Bush."
***********
I sympathize with Jurriaan and those who, watching from afar, confused
the pollster's "moral values" with moral values. This is one more case
where the propagandists lie and the New York Times swears to it.
The "Moral Values" victory Bush claims has become one more trumpet in
the neo-con chorus. It is bad enough that bewildered Americans are told
they re-elected Bush for righteousness' sake. It is worse when that
deliberate lie is used as an argument for a further assault on life and
decency. An example of the moral victory mandate argument appeared on
line November 5, 2004. Written for National Review by Frank Gaffney Jr.,
a contributing editor and a potent senior operative of the New American
Century type of the Bush circle. Titled "Worldwide Value," the article
starts, "According to the exit polls, George W. Bush owes his victory to
the priority attached by millions of voters to "moral values." Gaffney
goes on a bit later:
--The reality is that the same moral principles that underpinned the
Bush appeal on "values" issues like gay marriage, stem-cell research,
and the right to life were central to his vision of U.S. war aims and
foreign policy. Indeed, the president laid claim squarely to the
ultimate moral value -- freedom -- as the cornerstone of his strategy
for defeating our Islamofascist enemies and their state sponsors, for
whom that concept is utterly anathema.--

This is pretty sick stuff to associate with moral values. 10 days after
the big lie, page 5 of the Washington post carried a cautionary article
based on a poll of those polled. I reproduce the first part below. (In
full at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48363-2004Nov13.html)

Sliding Scale of Moral Values Is All in the Phrasing
By Charles Babington and Brian Faler
Sunday, November 14, 2004; Page A05, Washington Post.com
Much has been made of presidential exit polls indicating that voters
cared more about "moral values" than Iraq, terrorism or other issues.
Numerous pundits have concluded that Democrats badly miscalculated
President Bush's strengths and weaknesses and that the party is terribly
out of touch with the heartland.
Well, not so fast.
Voters' responses, it turns out, vary dramatically depending on how the
question is asked. If pollsters let voters name anything they choose as
the "most important factor" in their decision -- rather than giving them
a list to pick from -- Iraq easily outdistances moral values. A close
third is the economy and jobs.
When the Pew Research Center polled 1,209 voters after the Nov. 2
election, it used both methods to ask what was "the most important
factor" in choosing between Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.).
Some sampled by Pew were given the same options that exit pollsters gave
voters on Election Day. Of these, Pew found, 27 percent listed "moral
values" as most important, 22 percent said "Iraq," 21 percent chose
"economy and jobs," and 14 percent said "terrorism." The Nov. 2 exit
poll results were 22 percent "moral values," 20 percent "economy and
jobs," 19 percent "terrorism," and 15 percent "Iraq."
But when Pew's post-election pollsters let voters offer any answer,
results were starkly different: 25 percent cited Iraq, 14 percent moral
values, 12 percent economy and jobs, and 9 percent terrorism. The
biggest category, at 31 percent, was "other," which included "honesty,"
dislike or like of Bush or Kerry, and so on.
If Iraq and terrorism are combined as one issue -- which is how the Bush
campaign portrayed them -- it easily tops the list under either method
of framing the question (36 percent and 34 percent, respectively).
Keep on the Sunny Side
Speaking of polls, voters seem to be patting themselves on the back. The
University of Pennsylvania's National Annenberg Election Survey found
that, after Nov. 2, Americans are more optimistic about the nation's
direction.
Forty-seven percent said the country is "generally going in the right
direction," compared with 40 percent in pre-election polls. After the
election, 46 percent said "things are seriously off on the wrong track,"
compared with 53 percent before the vote.
(snip)
         rod


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