Bush Wins with Majority Christian, Catholic Support

George Bush has gained victory of the American presidency after a long night of counting votes on November 3rd 2004. Much speculation arose of the victory late last night, however, confirmation was not made until after the democratic candidate John Kerry conceded the race for the Whit House at 8am EST (4pm GMT).

“Congratulations, Mr. President," the Massachusetts senator Kerry was quoted as saying.

According to White House spokesman Scott McClellan, Bush told Kerry, “I think you were an admirable, honourable opponent."

Following the concession, Ohio’s 20 electoral votes gave Bush 274 counts – four more than the 270 needed for victory. He also received 58.7 million popular votes – the highest number of votes than any other presidential candidate in history. Kerry had 252 electoral votes, with Iowa (7) and New Mexico (5) unsettled.

Christian evangelicals, widely known as the base of Bush’s 2004 campaign, celebrated the victory.

According to the CNN exit polls, the majority of Christians and Catholics voted for Bush; Fifty-four percent of Protestants voted for Bush and 40% for Kerry; Fifty-two percent of Catholics voted for Bush and 47% for Kerry. On the other hand, the majority of non-Christian voted for Kerry.

In terms of Church Attendance, more than 64% of those who attend church more than weekly and 58% of those who attend church weekly voted for Bush. Fifty percent of Americans who attend church monthly voted for Bush while 49% of the same cohort voted for Kerry. Oppositely, 62% of those who never attend church and 54% of those who attend church a few times yearly voted for Kerry.

The “Vote by Religion and Category” showed a similar linear graph, with 70% of protestant weekly attendants, 56% of protestant less than weekly attendants, 56% of Catholic weekly attendants, and 40% of Catholic less than weekly attendants voting for Bush.

According to Patrick Mahoney, president of the Christian Defense Coalition, moral issues played a major role in deciding the election for the Christian and Catholic voters.

"It is clear one the major factors in this Presidential race was the strong turnout of the faith and pro-life communities. Moral issues played a major role across the country as witnessed by the fact that all eleven traditional marriage voter initiatives passed,” said Mahoney. “We will now bring this new found political influence to bear on the White House. Our first effort will focus on the nomination of a pro-life Supreme Court Justice.”






Pauline J. Chang
Ecumenical Press