"AP Poll 'SCARY' for True Conservative Christians"

[Bluebear]

Contact: Don Swarthout, President, Christians Reviving America's Values (CRAVE) 859-219-1222, 859-619-2811

WASHINGTON, Mar. 12 /Christian Newswire/-- In looking at the latest AP poll Christians in America have a great deal to be concerned about in the 2008 Presidential elections.

This AP Poll showed only 6% of those contacted considered morality an important characteristic for a Presidential candidate. The same poll showed 4% said it was important for a candidate to do what he promised he would do during his campaign.

Scarier yet :scared: for all conservative Americans, was that only 4% said it was important for the Presidential candidate to believe in God. Does that mean 96% of the people polled said that it was OK for a Presidential candidate to be an atheist? Today it seems to be okay to lie to the public, to have sexual affairs and to steal from the people while you are in an elected office.

Don Swarthout, President of Christians Reviving America's Values, CRAVE, said, "If this poll is accurate then Christian values will not play a role in the 2008 Presidential elections. :bounce: We have silently watched the world become unconcerned over so many Christian issues. :nopity: I think this lack of concern is because there are so many issues for Christians today that they don't know which way to turn. Also, the other side appears to be winning so much of the time."

Some people say that the Republican Party has not put forth a truly conservative candidate which the religious right can really get behind. On the other hand this poll shows very little support for conservative values. Christianity today apparently is more concerned about the differences between themselves than they are about the things which they agree upon.

One thing is for certain the Presidential election for 2008 has already started. If you are waiting to get involved in a year or so, you will not have anything to say about who the candidates are. If you want to have anything to say about who the candidates are you had better get involved right now.

Otherwise it appears we will have a choice between Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton. That choice is fine if you want a ticket without a true conservative for whom to vote. True conservatives need a Sam Brownback, Fred Thompson, Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter or a Tom Tancredo on the ticket. :puke:

"You have to be looking at states like New York, California and New York if you want a true conservative in the primaries. If you want to know what to do it takes time and money and time is running out," Swarthout said.

http://www.earnedmedia.org/crave0312.htm

[w4rma]

1. Edwards would gobble up many of these disenfranchised conservatives.

I hope he wins the primary if Gore doesn't run.

The other two top tier candidates wouldn't be able to.

[NMMNG]

2. Oh for pete's sake

This AP Poll showed only 6% of those contacted considered morality an important characteristic for a Presidential candidate.

Those are the 6% of Americans who still think morality is confined to what people do with their genitals.


Scarier yet for all conservative Americans, was that only 4% said it was important for the Presidential candidate to believe in God.

Oh, but it is. Case in point, GWB. :sarcasm:



That choice is fine if you want a ticket without a true conservative for whom to vote.


And that would be a crisis? :eyes:

[kirby]

3. Worse... Intelligence only 11%

[qwlauren35]

22. I hope you're not serious.

Even if it seems that way...

[kirby]

27. I was not joking...

Character 55%
Stand on a specific issues 33%
Leadership qualities 21%
Experience 14%
Compassion/Considerate 13%
Intelligence/knowledge/common sense 11%
Ability to the do the job right/good/responsible 4%
Conservative 2%
Bipartison 1%
Other 24%


It ws a very ambiguous question and of course the MSM isnt reporting that.

The question was
'In general, what would you say are the most important qualities or characteristics you look for in a candidate for president?'
It was an 'open ended question', meaning they picked out words from your open ended answer and tallied them.


Here is the actual poll (PDF file):


http://www.ipsos-na.com/news/act_hit_cntr.cfm?id=3403&Region=us&PDF_name=mr070312-1topline.pdf

[DireStrike]

36. oh well that doesn't mean jackshit

half of those words are meaningless... "character" ... what the hell is that?

on reflection, it probably means an entertaining personality/personal life, here in the us of a.

[kirby]

37. Read the poll?

If you care to take the time to read the poll, you'll see that 'Character' was made up of 8 subitems. Of the of the 55% 'Character', 41% was 'Honesty/trustworthy/truthful', while 'Faith/believes in God' only got 4% under Character.

[Kurovski]

4. "Christian values" haven't played much of a role in past elections, either.

But the Supreme Court and Diebold sure did.

[whoneedstickets]

5. "the other side appears to be winning"....

does he mean Liberals or Satan (or does he distinguish)? That's the trouble with a Manichean world-view. It's us or them, good or evil, black or white. In addition it illustrates the problem with wedding religious denomination to partisan affiliation. It would seem anachronistic to discuss sectarian power-struggles in the USA, but the tight link between evangelicals and conservative main-stream Christians and the GOP means an electoral loss = spiritual defeat.

[Jack Rabbit]

6. Horsepucky

The Religious Right(TM) has loaded the word morality with a very narrow meaning, such that it means only voting for a candidate like Bush or Reagan who opposes abortion, gay marriage and a few other bugaboos. They have done likewise with terms like Christian values, conservatism, family and even Christianity itself. To them, Christianity is conflated with a right wing know-nothing creed, which they call conservatism but doesn't resemble it in the least.

Accordingly, I reject Mr. Swarthouut's contention that Americans are not concerned about morality. What he really means is that not all Americans share his idea of morality.

As an American citizen, I have always been concerned about morality. I think it is immoral to traffic in human flesh, whether that is in the form of prostitution or slavery. It think it is immoral set one group of people, identified by some arbitrary characteristic like race, nationality, religious creed or wealth, above others and give the "superior" group a right to rule whiteout any consent; accordingly, I not only find slavery immoral, but imperialism as well. I think it is immoral for a public servant to use his office to line his pocket book, such as by throwing no-bid contracts to a transnational corporation in which the said public servant's retirement funds are invested. I think it is immoral to go to war before exhausting all means to avoid it. And I think it is immoral to provide a false argument for going to war in order to garner public approval for something that would otherwise get the moron proposing it tarred and feathered.

I think democracy is moral. I think tolerance of different points of view is moral. I think celebrating diversity is moral, I think persecuting people because they are somehow different is immoral. I think caring for the earth is moral and polluting it is immoral. It think it is moral for two people to love each other. I think it is immoral to tell them they can't because they are of a different race or the same gender.

That's my morality. I guess it's different from Mr. Swath's. I'm content for us to cancel out each other's moral values based vote every election day.

[POAS]

24. Exactly correct...........good post

Tolerance means nothing to these people. If they cannot even be tolerant respect is totally out of the question.

Modern day Pharasees proclaiming follow me or die in hell.

[kestrel91316]

30. Tolerance is the mark of Satan, according to these freaks.

[POAS]

32. Tolerance to me is

just a stepping stone on the way to understanding and respect.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

7. Only 4% think believing in God is important?!?

Okay, while I really, really want to believe that, it is inconsistent with my experience and other polls I've seen.

[Kurovski]

8. After six years of George "God is in the White House" Bush,

the pendulum may be swinging.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

21. Some smells wrong....

Depending on whose polls you look at, anywhere from 15-20% of the country are conservative evangelicals. I can't imagine that a huge majority of these people "don't care" if the President is a Christian.

Something's just not right.

[ninkasi]

9. Oh, please!

From the OP

"We have silently watched the world become unconcerned over so many Christian issues." I'd like to know exactly WHEN they have been silent about anything. I have never seen so many issues become whipped up into a frenzy by religious fundamentalists as during the Bush years.

When, exactly, have they been silent? What issues have they stood by and watched the rest of the world's "lack of concern" about? They really, really have a victim mentality, and even if they could stone adulteresses, and have the Bible substituted for text books in our public schools, they would find something to whine about.

They act like they are living in Rome, and Christians are being fed to lions with great regularity. They need to get a grip on reality, except I don't think they would recognize it even if it knocked at their doors with a big sign saying "reality" pasted all over it.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

10. They would not recognize Jesus if he

came through the door either.

[Bluebear]

11. ...

:spray:

I just heartily enjoyed your whole post! :)

[ninkasi]

14. Thanks, Bluebear

I am content with being able to practice whatever I believe without government interference. Some people, though, are not content until they can inflict their beliefs on to me. That is what I oppose. I have always considered myself to be nothing but a flawed individual, one person among the millions and millions of other people, and entitled to no more, nor more less, than anybody else.

I guess it's the aura of entitlement that drives the conservative agenda that galls me. Why should I have any more rights than any other person on this earth? I would willingly give up quite a bit if it meant raising the standard of living in poor countries. I will not, however, give up anything in order to further enrich the already wealthy. That probably makes me a traitor. I don't see it that way, though.

It's not enough to be patriotic, it also is necessary to feel a kinship with people all over the world. None of us can be secure, and at peace, until we all are.

[SoCalDem]

12. oh no.. How will they ever keep up the MYTH that they are the MAJORITY

and that america is a CHRISTIAN NATION, put here by God-Almighty??

What it really proves is that the whole Christian Rightwing republican stuff is all a HOAX..has been from the start..

they are CONTRARIANS..and their "ideals" are maleable, as long as the end result is POWER... Power to mess with and torment the real majority of people who just want to get along.

They are willing to forego their pet issues in exchange for power and being "called" the chosen people.

Their exalted leaders have been in power for many years now, and they have gotten NONE of their wish-list..

[Bluebear]

13. "they have gotten NONE of their wish-list."

And are they hopping mad!

[Warren DeMontague]

15. Quick! Call the Waaaaah-mbulance!

You mean they may not have as much enthusiastic support among the American people to micro-manage their fellow citizens' personal lives as they've been claiming all these years?

Do tell.

[SalmonChantedEvening]

16. "states like New York, California and New York" Ummm HUH?

There are two New Yorks?? And just where have they been hiding the second one??

:rofl:

:hi: Blue!! :pals: :hug:

[Bluebear]

29. Accuracy is not their forte!

[SalmonChantedEvening]

31. Or their Fort B.

:P

[Flying Dream Blues]

35. If they'd come out of hiding in '04 we sure could've used them, no? :)

[sendero]

17. If this poll is accurate...

.. and that is somewhat doubtful IMHO, the "evangelicals" or the "Christian right" or whatever you want to call them have NO ONE BUT THEMSELVES TO BLAME.

Every time the country trusts them we find out they are even more flawed than the "godless liberals" they are so quick to condemn.

Yes, morality matters. A president who cannot utter a sentence without lying is not moral. End of story.

[GeorgeGist]

18. hmmm ...

Christianity appears to be a failure.

[Vinca]

19. I thought Christian issues might involve hunger and poverty, but

somehow I think this guy is beating his hate gays, love embryos drum.

[JHB]

20. "Scarier yet..."

"Scarier yet for all conservative Americans, was that only 4% said it was important for the Presidential candidate to believe in God. Does that mean 96% of the people polled said that it was OK for a Presidential candidate to be an atheist? Today it seems to be okay to lie to the public, to have sexual affairs and to steal from the people while you are in an elected office."

What does lying to the public, having affairs, and stealing from the people have to do with being atheist? Considering how all those things have been done by people who repeatedly express their non-atheism....

[sutz12]

23. Considering that there is no link to the "AP poll" in question...

and thus no support whatsoever for the proposed numbers, I would say that this is a scare memo to energize the base. Unfortunately, the message is for all of the fundies to get out there and evangelize, convert them sinners or you're going to hell.

So, this article is a call to arms for those who love Jesus to get in our faces and preach the holy gospel of Leviticus.

Don't you just love how all of these "Christians" seem to be more in touch with the Old Testament than the New?

[Tellurian]

26. Seems like the Evangelicals are also number crunchers

Tailoring the polls to accommodate their failed flock of presidential wannabees. Seeing not one of the Christians candidates has been able to live up to the standards set by the Evangelicals. The weekly exposés of Christian hierarchy heading for rehab has taken it's toll, unraveling the "purity" standards of their preachings as unattainable, even by their own leadership..

It appears the implosion of the high moral ground from which they've pontificated for so long, has revealed itself to be just another Religious scam. Pipe-dreams for money.

[kirby]

28. See my reply #27

http://www.ipsos-na.com/news/act_hit_cntr.cfm?id=3403&Region=us&PDF_name=mr070312-1topline.pdf

[gatorboy]

25. It's as if they're trying to downplay the moral values (or lack thereof) of the leading REPUBLICANS.

Considering how shabby they are.

Because I coulda sworn morals was the big thing in '04....

If this was a haggle of Democrats that were having this problem, morals would be the trend of the day...Because it's naughty Republicans, not so much....

[Maddy McCall]

33. Becky Fisher's shitting her britches.

:rofl:

[Tsiyu]

34. America has arisen and smelled the Coffee bean

And now we want OUR morality legislated:

You know, that morality that says:

Take care of the poor and the weak and the sick (like that guy, what's his name? Jesus something-or-other?suggested????????

Don't judge what people do in the privacy of their own homes (and if you're that obsessed with others' sex lives, get some counseling).

Seek justice for EVERYONE - not just the wealthy - and do not deprive the poor of justice in your courts.

Treat everyone as you would like to be treated - as in, don't let them drown in their homes and starve in the streets and don't go killing another nation's kids for $$$$$$$.

Be good stewards of the earth, like not polluting the very air you breathe.

Oh, yeah. I want THAT MORALITY legislated.