How will social and religious issues factor into 2012 election?

[cbayer]

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-how-will-social-and-religious-issues-factor-into-2012-election-20120726,0,1606972.story

By Mitchell Landsberg
July 26, 2012, 12:20 p.m.
Religion has mostly hovered in the background of this presidential campaign, largely in the form of questions.

Will Mitt Romney's Mormon faith hurt him among evangelical (or other) voters? Will President Obama lose support among Catholics, a key voting bloc, because of his positions on abortion, contraception and same-sex marriage? In short, will social and religious issues play a significant role in this election, as they have in the past?

Two polls released Thursday suggest an answer: Not so much.

One poll, by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion and Public Life, looks at voter attitudes toward Romney's and Obama's faith traditions. The other, by the Public Religion Research Institute, looks at how religion shapes the political views of African Americans and Latinos.

If the findings of the two polls could be summed up in a sentence, it might be this: Faith is important to many Americans, but it doesn't necessarily dictate how they will vote.


more at link

[Taverner]

1. That's the hidden silver lining: it won't

The GOP will do what it can to play down R-money's Mormonism, and we Dems mostly don't give a shit

[dimbear]

2. People lie constantly to pollsters, especially about their racial and religious preferences.

Nobody wants to admit to a stranger that they're bigoted. In the voting booth it's going to be simpler to remember that you don't agree that Lucifer and Jesus are brothers. Admit that when the president of the United States needs to pull an all-nighter, he can have a cup of coffee or a smoke.

Speaking of which, know who was practically a walking chimney? Winston Churchill.

Mitt must have a very low opinion of him. Ought to tell the Brits.