How moderates helped re-elect President Bush

E.J. Dionne / Syndicated columnist
WASHINGTON — John Kerry was not defeated by the religious right. He was beaten by moderates who went — reluctantly in many cases — for President Bush.

This will be hard for many Democrats to take. It's easier to salve those wounds by demonizing religious conservatives. But in the 2004 election, Democrats left votes on the table that could have created a Kerry majority.

Consider these findings from the network exit polls: About 38 percent of those who thought abortion should be legal in most cases went to Bush. Bush got 22 percent from voters who favored gay marriage and 52 percent among those who favor civil unions. Bush even managed 16 percent among voters who thought the president paid more attention to the interests of large corporations than of "ordinary Americans." A third of the voters who favored a government more active in solving problems went to Bush. True, 22 percent of the voters said that "moral values" were decisive in their decisions. But 71 percent picked some other issue.

All this means that Bush won not because there is a right-wing majority in the United States, but because the president persuaded just enough of the nonconservative majority to go his way. Even with their increased numbers, conservatives still constitute only 34 percent of the electorate. The largest share of the American electorate (45 percent) calls itself moderate, and 21 percent of this year's voters — bless them — called themselves liberal.

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