Few, but interesting, surprises in CBS post-election poll

CBS News | Poll: America's Cultural Divide | November 22, 2004�21:46:35

Read the poll results for yourself, that's what the link is for. But here's my take on the interesting points.

Intolerance

The media and the pundits and the Democrats are near unanimous in labeling Republican voters as intolerant and we seldom hear any defense of the GOP. But the CBS poll has a pair of questions that bear rather directly on this issue independent of specific issue disagreements that we all know exist between voters for the two parties.

Supporters of both Bush and Kerry were asked it their opposite numbers shared non-political values and goals and whether they shared moral values. On the non-political values and goals question, Bush voters said "No" by a 10-point margin, while Kerry voters said "No" by a 16-point margin. Showing Bush voters to be slightly less suspicious of Kerry voters' motives than vice versa. More intriguing is the shared moral values question where Kerry voters said "Yes" by an insignificant 2-point margin while Bush voters answered "Yes" by a solid 11-point margin. So Bush voters are much more likely than Kerry voters to see common ground on moral values.

And, thanks to a question about moral standards and popular culture, we get an indication of one of the problems Democrats have in keeping even the voters they have. Asked whether Hollywood is contributing to a lowering or raising of standards, Bush voters chose "lowering" by a massive margin of 76 points, but even Kerry voters chose "lowering" by a 42-point margin (51% to 9%). So, even a majority of Kerry supporters think Hollywood is lowering moral standards and yet the Democrat Party is very much dependent on Hollywood stars and executives for a major share of its financing.

The Democrats also appear to be dependent on a weak economy to remain competitive. Sixty-three percent of Kerry voters said economic issues were most important in determining their vote, for Bush voters that figure was only sixteen percent.