Values Do Matter

Democratic strategists find that their party has a huge gap with voters that should be theirs: lower-income, less-educated voters. The problem? Moral values.

In the Washington Post article, Dan Balz showed the strategists were surprised by the results of the Democracy Corps focus-group study. They interviewed four groups of rural and disaffected voters from Wisconsin, Arkansas, Colorado, and Kentucky. These voters were unhappy with current economic policy and the leadership and direction of the country. But even more powerful was their perception of Democrats as "inconsistent and hostile to traditional values." This fear of losing traditional values totally negated the negative feelings towards Republicans.

What was the Democratic strategists' response? They concluded that "Democrats need a reform-oriented, anti-Washington agenda to overcome the culture gap." Wrong conclusion. To reach voters who vote on values, they will need a pro-family, pro-life, pro-marriage platform. The message to Republicans is: keep campaigning on moral values.