All the big news media may have been shocked by why Bush got re-elected, but listeners of Dr. Politics on WOI Public Radio knew from the day the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage that this would become a defining issue.

I pointed out on my shows during the past months that this, and several other hot button issues, were a real danger to Kerry, especially since he is identified as a Northeastern liberal, and the country (and voters) are quite conservative on these issues.

It now appears that perhaps nothing was more instrumental in the defeat of Kerry than the 11 constitutional amendments against same-sex marriage, all of which passed by overwhelming majorities, because, in several states, these amendments brought socially conservative voters to the polls in huge numbers (exit polls confirm this). When they voted, they also voted for Bush. This probably helped Bush gather more than 50 percent of the popular vote.

One question facing the Democratic party is how it can support civil rights, such as same-sex marriage, and yet avoid having it hurt them in general elections. Bush’s increase among black voters, 12 or 13 percent of whom voted for him, is also directly attributed to this issue, since many blacks have argued in churches and public speeches that they don’t consider gay rights to be equivalent to racial civil rights.

More generally, “moral issues” and terrorism seem to have been the defining issues of this election. These issues, and the fact that voters for Kerry said the economy and Iraq were the issues they felt most strongly about, will make the 2008 election very interesting. Will these issues hold up for four years?

Steffen Schmidt

University Professor

Political Science