The headlines covering a recent Los Angeles
Times/Bloomberg poll, which was conducted in late June,
focused largely on the troubling statistic that revealed 35 percent
of respondents would not vote for a Mormon for President of the
United States. Religious bigotry, while a shadow of its former
self, still lurks around electoral corners.
But as if that information were not disturbing enough, some
statistics from the same poll have received less attention but
appear nevertheless to invalidate the American left’s affectations
of religious tolerance and pious political correctness.
According to the survey, 37 percent of self-identified
liberals would vote against an evangelical Christian
candidate for president; 38 percent of self-identified liberal
Democrats would do so. Democrats as a whole are significantly
more likely to vote against an evangelical Christian candidate for
president — over a quarter (28 percent) — than either Republican
or Independent voters. And barely a majority (53 percent) of all
Democrats would vote for an evangelical candidate for
president.
This new information could not come at a worse time for Democrat
politicians. Since their 2004 electoral drubbing, some Democrats
have made entreaties toward the evangelical community. Recently,
for example, Democratic Senator Barack Obama of Illinois urged his
party to reach out to evangelicals so as not to “abandon the field
of religious discourse.”
“Nothing is more transparent than inauthentic expressions of
faith,” Sen. Obama admonished his fellow partisans. And yet, this
new data seems to belie the authenticity of those same Democratic
appeals to evangelicals. If so many in their own political base are
so hostile to evangelicals, is it any surprise that so many of the
Democrats’ appeals to evangelicals have been so inept? In their
attempt to be “in but not of” the world of faithful America,
Democrats have struck a uniquely tone-deaf chord.
Consider the almost schizophrenic ramblings of Democratic
National Chairman Howard Dean on the matter of faith in public life
in the order in which they were uttered:
“We are definitely going to do religious outreach. Even in my
campaign I was interested in reaching out to evangelicals.”
“The issue is: Are we going to live in a theocracy where the
highest powers tell us what to do? Or are we going to be allowed to
consult our own high powers when we make very difficult
decisions?”
“They [Republicans] all behave the same. They all look the same.
It’s pretty much a white Christian party.”
“The religious community has to decide whether they want to be
tax exempt or involved in politics.”
“The truth is, we have an enormous amount in common with the
Christian community, and particularly with the evangelical
Christian community.”
It doesn’t get any more inauthentic than that. And this is from
the leader of the Democratic Party.
What do these data mean in practical terms? After all, the
Democrats are unlikely to field a born again Christian for
president in 2008 anyway (though, it theory, it isn’t out of the
question), right? Yes, but it speaks to a deeper suspicion
Democrats have toward the faithful, and vice versa. This suspicion
has been on full display in recent elections; 2004 most
prominently. It is likely to remain on display throughout the
foreseeable future, despite recent reports that “the God gap”
between the parties is on the wane.
Again, after the 2004 election, some Democrats initiated a
campaign to win the hearts and minds of America’s faithful. Perhaps
they should start by opening the hearts and minds of their own
political supporters.
