The US election exit poll results that found "moral values" was the key issue in the minds of Republican voters have been shouted down by all sorts of people who found them inconvenient - but the first post-election Pew survey has reached almost the same conclusions; with some qualifications:
The survey findings parallel exit poll results showing that moral values is a top-tier issue for voters. But the relative importance of moral values depends greatly on how the question is framed. The post-election survey finds that, when moral values is pitted against issues like Iraq and terrorism, a plurality (27%) cites moral values as most important to their vote. But when a separate group of voters was asked to name in their own words the most important factor in their vote, significantly fewer (14%) mentioned moral values. Regardless of how the question is asked, the survey shows that moral values is the most frequently cited issue for Bush voters, but is seldom mentioned by Kerry voters.
In addition, those who cite moral values as a major factor offer varying interpretations of the concept. More than four-in-ten (44%) of those who chose moral values as the most important factor in their vote from the list of issues say the term relates to specific concerns over social issues, such as abortion and gay marriage. However, others did not cite specific policy issues, and instead pointed to factors like the candidates' personal qualities or made general allusions to religion and values.
From the closed list of seven options, 44% of Bush voters chose "moral values" as their most important issue, compared to only 7% of Kerry voters. The characterisation of "moral values" amongst those who cited it as their key issue was also quite clear: gay marriage, followed by abortion, "candidate qualities" and religious references.
Among Kerry voters, 36% chose the economy and jobs as their most important issue (compared to 7% of Republicans) and 34% chose Iraq (11% of Republicans). Interestingly, the survey also indicates that the Democrats had virtually lost the election before they started campaigning: 52% of Bush voters made up their minds last year, and 83% did before the presidential debates. One in five Americans cited their main source of television news on the campaign as Fox News, and young voters, those on higher incomes and liberal Democrats were most likely to get their news from the Internet.
More from the frontlines of unreason: more than a third of Americans still stay that the theory of evolution is not supported by evidence, and 45% say that "God created man in his present form" - that is, we never evolved from anything. (But if we really are God's perfect, static creation - why do teeth need flossing? Isn't that a bit of a design flaw?)
This isn't new, of course - this summing-up of 1991 research shows that back then Americans were second only to the Poles and Philippinos in their certain belief God, and led the world in doubting evolution and in their belief in Hell. Some of the other results are amusing - marginally more Russians believed in the Devil than in God. At 29.3%, New Zealanders' certain belief in God was actually higher than some other surveys have shown - and higher than that in Britain.
It's Hell that gets on my tits. I fully understand the role of transcendence - there are some things best understood through the poetry of the religious imagination - but Hell is just silly; no more and no less than a handy construct for social control.
Kevin Sites, the NBC photojournalist who got slapped with a conservative fatwa after doing his job in Fallujah has a blog, and he has responded to the controversy.
No Right Turn pointed to Crooked Timber's largely positive expert assessment of the Lancet study that found that 100,000 Iraqis had died as a result of the war, but it's worth another look. Deltoid is also pretty funny about some of the leading Lancet naysayers, who don't seem to have actually read the study.
The Globe & Mail sums up election fraud theories with the headline No one cheated (but they could have) , which is roughly my conclusion.
I was pleased to see Tariana Turia take the system at its word and respond to the SIS scoop by writing to the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, Justice Paul Neazor, and asking him to investigate. With most other parties pushing for a probe, I can't see that the government can avoid this one, and, indeed, if Clark hadn't (again!) been offshore for the blow-up, I suspect that Labour would already have been a bit more nimble.
Hip-hop economy report: TRN's fledgling Flava 96one has leapt into the Auckland radio ratings with a 4.9 - taking most of its listeners from Mai FM. A little further down, there was also a good result for 95bFM, which now rates above Radio Sport (and the Wire slot increased the rating for its daypart by nearly a point - yay!). Meanwhile, Holmes continues to rule the mornings. Median Strip has all the other survey results.
And, finally, Dubber, who has started audioblogging from Britain on the Monday Wire, deploys a complex argument to prove that Russell Brown hates me. It's alright folks: it's not what he actually means …