It depends on what the meaning of ‘moral’ is

June 5, 2006

If you ask Americans if they support [tag]gay marriage[/tag], a slim majority will say they don’t (in fact, a new ABC News [tag]poll[/tag] will be released in a couple of hours saying just that). But the far more important question is where this issue ranks on the nation’s moral radar. Despite the hype, culture-war issues lack the salience of other moral controversies.

* Asked to name the most serious moral crisis in America today, 28% of Americans cite “kids not raised with the right values”; followed by 22% saying “corruption in government/business”; 17% saying “greed and materialism” or “people too focused on themselves”; and only 3% citing “abortion and homosexuality.”

* On addressing poverty: 68% of voters strongly agree that “government should uphold the basic decency and dignity of all and take greater steps to help the poor and disadvantaged in America” (89% total agree).

Ron Brownstein noted, in response to these results, that “the moral issues people worried about most in their daily lives were very different from the ones dominating political debate.”

Quite right. Polls that simply show preferences are interesting, but it’s the intensity of the belief that matters most. Americans may say they support an anti-gay constitutional amendment, but asked to name genuine moral crises that affect their families, people are far more worried with “kids nowadays” and the culture of corruption. This is not just true of secularists — among those who attend religious services most often, just 6% picked abortion and homosexuality.

The response to the question about poverty was also important, not just in demonstrating Americans’ concern for the disadvantaged, but in expanding the definition of what a moral issue actually is. Too often in our political discourse, issues that are characterized as “[tag]moral[/tag]” or related to “[tag]values[/tag]” are necessarily connected to [tag]conservatives[/tag]. This is nonsense. If [tag]abortion[/tag] and gay rights are moral issues, so are poverty, the environment, and health care.

As George Will, of all people, put it, “The phrase ‘values voters,’ which has become ubiquitous, subtracts from social comity by suggesting that one group has cornered the market on moral seriousness.” As polls like this one help show, they haven’t.

Though at the moment I’d say one group has pretty much cornered the market on criminal values and a sense of being above the law on all counts, namely, the Bush Crime Family and the rest of the GOP.

  • And one group has, unfortunately, pretty much cornered the market on media willing to use loaded language to suggest that only one type voter has morals. (Though even the complicit media can’t make them seem serious).

  • 28% of Americans cite “kids not raised with the right values”

    Does that mean we are now going to start requiring parent licenses and contraceptive implants?

    Does anyone actually stop to think about the policy implications of a statement like this?

    Oh, I’m sure they think all we need to do is change TV, Movies and Music to make them more ‘wholesome’. Somehow, I don’t think that will do the job.

  • This is encouraging, but I wonder what the “right values” that 28% believes that kids today are lacking include. I wouldn’t be greatly surprised to find that they include things like homophobia and religious fundamentalism. But maybe I’m just being cynical.

  • My question to the Ultra-Right Religious conservatives of this country — if abortions, homosexuality, pre-marital sex and whatever else you’re upset about go against ‘God’s Laws’, then why not let God take care of these ‘sinners’ when they die? According to your beliefs, they’ll go to Hell right? So what’s the problem? Your ‘Heaven’ will be filled with happy, wholesome, blue-blooded, bible-thumping folks just like you, right? Meanwhile, right now on earth, no one’s forcing you to have abortions or into relationships with same sex partners, are they? Show me where in the Bible Jesus says to do anything other than preach His “good news.” One thing I’m fairly certain He did say, “Do unto others as you would have done to you.” So does that mean you would like to be defiled, mocked, debased, blown up, beaten, shot, scandalized, humiliated, frightened and so on?

  • A large number of American’s have lost their friggin minds. The right values are always “my” values, the right religion is “my” religion, the right language is “my” language, etc. Such “thinking” is antithetical to living in a democracy.

  • Haven’t we know this for years? Why is it that the dems have been afraid of these issues since the Great Society? Why is John Edwards the only one talking about it (although he’s big on polish and light on ideas)? Why can’t we make some noise about this and make it stick for once?

  • The question “what’s the most serious moral crisis” could be misleading in trying to determine whether gay marriage is a moral issue that will turn out voters. What if 10% of americans thought it was the second most serious crisis, and 30% thought is was the third most important? Lousy question.

    Gallup’s recent pole asked people to rank the issues that congress should be looking at. Their “Ethics/moral/religious/family decline” issue was ranked 20 of 28 with 1% ranking it tops. But this too could be deceiving – I think the ethical problems of congress will be a major driver for my voting next November. But I would have been reluctant to choose this lump of issues which appears to be aimed at the failings of the electorate when I’m more interested in the failings of the elected.

    A more useful survey would be (a) is gay marriage a question that congress should be currently addressing, (b) are you for it or against it, and (c) will it effect your likelihood to vote or who you will vote for?

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