Poll by Sex?
Just read this interesting article in the latest issue of
the Utne Reader that says:
Today there is a more reliable predictor of people's political
allegiances than their pocketbooks: where they stand on sexual
issues.
Specifically, the "more liberal a person was on sexual attitudes, the more
likely the person was to vote Democrat," as was the opposite. In fact, a
quote from this editorial by Pete du Pont entitled
Gore Carries the Porn Belt states that a "map show[ed] by region the
percentage of sex movies in the home-video market" and that it "bore an eerie
resemblance" to the 2000 election results where Gore carried the areas with
the highest percentages.
It seems that the vast majority of states that voted for George W. Bush are
states that are less responsive to issues of sexual rights and sexual
health.
So if I was to say that I vote Democrat, does that mean that I'm more
liberal on issues regarding sex? Guess so. According to a survey noted in
this article, respondents were asked the following questions to test these
attitudes:
- Do you believe homosexuality is morally wrong?
- Do you ever personally look at pornography?
- Would you look down on someone who had an affair while married?
- Do you believe sex before marriage is morally wrong?
But I should note is that the perception of evil is on both sides of
the fence. Of course there will be the "morally right" who will state that
homosexuality is wrong, but it takes a Republican state like Wyoming to
beat a young gay man to death. So this division is not over good and bad,
but over our definition of American culture.
This is certainly more intriguing than simple economic-based politics
(however, if the unemployment rate doesn't drop in the next year, the
Republicans have little hope of re-election). But more to the point, this
internal battle is good for the American soul. We need to argue and debate
over important issues that have no clear answer.
No clear answer? Every person who reads my little editorial (yes, both of
you), will obviously think that there is a clear answer. However, the other
half of America will not agree with you. These are tough questions, and
"proving them" to the other half will require more than isolated case
studies and more than prevalent statistics.
Perhaps we will never come to a clear consensus, but I would argue that the
debate will be good for us to argue.
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