When someone says traditional values,"" most of us think of the two issues that seem to galvanize our country: abortion and same-sex marriage. In 2004, these issues took center stage as the Religious Right - spurred by James Dobson and Jerry Falwell, the figureheads of the evangelical movement - turned out in droves to support President Bush in order to oppose these hot topics.
Three years (and a few thousand dead soldiers in Iraq) later, as Bob Dylan once said, ""the times they are a-changin"" and the political effect in the 2008 election and in the years to come could be dramatic.
According to a CBS News poll, the issues white evangelicals most want candidates to talk about are not gay rights or abortion, like they were in years past. Instead, 23 percent rank health care as a priority, closely followed by the Iraq War at 20 percent, and immigration and the economy at 8 and 7 percent, respectively.
As Frank Rich pointed out in his New York Times column Sunday, this contrasts sharply with a straw poll taken a few weeks ago at the Family Research Council's Voter Values Summit. Here, 41.5 percent polled ranked abortion as the number one issue, followed by same-sex marriage at 20 percent and tax cuts at 11 percent. In fact, none of the issues from the CBS poll appears in this poll.
As highlighted by David Kirkpatrick in Sunday's NYT Magazine, the evangelical community is at a crossroads. A force for conservatism and social values for the past three decades, the CBS poll shows conservative Christian leaders have lost touch with their base, causing younger evangelicals to turn away from the ""traditional values"" they preach.
Bill Hybels, who Kirkpatrick calls ""very possibly the single-most-influential pastor in America,"" agrees.
""The Indians are saying to the chiefs, 'We are interested in more than your two or three issues,' "" Hybels said. ""We are interested in the poor, in racial reconciliation, in global poverty and AIDS, in the plight of women in the developing world.""
As the younger generation takes over leadership positions, and as Democrats begin to reach out more to this group, the evangelical community could start to shift toward the center, possibly becoming a swing group of voters in elections to come.
As the CBS poll shows, the process has already started. Just like the rest of the electorate, evangelicals are most concerned with health care and the Iraq War, issues Democrats hold an advantage on. According to an October Rasmussen Report, 53 percent of voters trust Democrats over Republicans to deal with health care as opposed to the 32 percent that trust Republicans more, and 4 percent trust them to handle Iraq more than the GOP.
Although Democrats will probably never capture a majority of the evangelical community, every little bit helps. In 2004, evangelicals made up 23 percent of the electorate, and 78 percent of them, or about 22 million, voted for Bush. In 2008, if Democrats can cut this advantage down, to say, 65 percent, they will gain more than 3.5 million votes, which should be more than enough to swing the election.
In addition, as younger, more liberal evangelicals take over, they will get their message out in different ways. Rev. Daniel Schultz, a UW-Madison alumnus, is doing just that with his blog, Street Prophets.
Founded in 2005, Street Prophets is the offspring of Daily Kos, the largest political blog on the Internet. According to its website, ""Street Prophets seeks to change the 'moral values' conversation by fostering community; promoting informed opinion and moving its members to action."" Known in the blogosphere as ""Pastor Dan,"" many more young evangelicals are bound to follow his example, bringing the true ""moral values"" of poverty and health care back to the forefront.
Although abortion and same-sex marriage may still be a priority for many of these voters, and could return to dominance once again depending on the issues of the day, for now Democrats need to take advantage of this shift and welcome evangelicals over to their side. After all, ""There's a battle outside, and it is ragin'.""
Erik Opsal is a senior majoring in journalism and political science. Please send responses to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
