Values voters are those voters who support a candidate or political party based primarily upon the moral, religious, and philosophical principles that those actors embrace. While most voters are undoubtedly influenced in some part by their beliefs and principles, values voters are more inclined to base their political allegiances on one, two, or perhaps a handful of controversial issues that deeply reflect their moral beliefs. Throughout American electoral history, moral issues such as slavery, the rights of organized labor, civil rights, women’s rights, nativism, and anti-communism influenced citizens’ choices at the ballot box. Contemporary social issues such as abortion, prayer in school, gay rights (most recently, same-sex marriage or civil unions), gun control, the death penalty, global warming, and the theory of evolution all represent issues that speak to a voter’s moral principles and beliefs.
Most frequently, what we technically call a “values voter” is meant to indicate those moral values and political dispositions held by social conservatives. The expression “values voters” came into vogue following the Campaign of 2004. The National Election Pool had an exit poll in that year in which voters were asked to indicate the “most important issue” influencing their vote choice. Voters were given a list of issues from which to choose, and among these was an item labeled “moral values.” While the exit poll never asked voters to identify any moral value in particular, 22 percent of all voters selected this item as their most important issue. Of these, the vast majority also identified themselves as conservative Christians, and they overwhelmingly supported Republican nominee George W. Bush. On the basis of this poll, many political pundits heralded the rise of the new values voter in American politics.
Research in political science has challenged this interpretation of the 2004 election, finding, in many cases, that the number of values voters has not grown sharply over time (but, rather, has remained constant), and that even among such voters, other political issues may influence electoral choices. And there is disagreement among political scientists about the extent to which values voters uniquely contributed to Bush’s reelection in 2004.
Nevertheless, it would be a mistake to underestimate the importance of political groups that represent the interests of socially conservative values voters. For example, the Family Research Council is a major influence in the study and promotion of the value vote, and beginning in 2006, the group has sponsored a Values Voter Summit to promote the agenda and policies of a social conservative ideology. Aspiring Republican political candidates have used this summit to court conservative voters (although Republican nominee John McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin, notably did not make an appearance at the summit held during the Campaign of 2008). The 2009 Values Voter Summit featured Republican hopeful Tim Pawlenty, and the 2011 Values Voter Summit was attended by Republican hopeful Michele Bachmann, a leading voice among social conservatives and the Tea Party movement. In the Campaign of 2008, Democratic nominee Barack Obama and Republican nominee John McCain both made appearances at evangelical Christian preacher Rick Warren’s Saddleback mega-church in Orange County, California.
In many ways, the Family Research Council and the Values Voter Summit are the products of the “culture wars” that emerged in the 1980s and 1990s (and as articulated at the GOP convention in 1992 by aspiring nominee Patrick Buchanan). The controversy over abortion has been, since the mid-1970s, probably the biggest hot-button issue in the values voter list of concerns, and more recently, the debate over the nature of marriage (and gay marriage in particular) has become a central concern for these voters as well. Given the current state of American politics, it is difficult to imagine a scenario in which the values voter would not be a factor in either setting the agenda for debate or influencing the outcome of an election. In particular, these voters are viewed as pivotal factors in determining the outcomes of Republican Party primaries, both as a function of their size and because they are more readily mobilized than other Republican primary voters. However, their influence on the general election is also unmistakable, as candidates of both parties increasingly address issues of personal faith on the campaign trail.
See also Culture War; Moral Majority
Fiorina, Morris P., Samuel J. Abrams, and Jeremy C. Pope. Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America. New York: Longman, 2005.
Langer, Gary, and Jon Cohen. “Voters and Values in the 2004 Election.” Public Opinion Quarterly 69, no 5 (special issue, 2005): 744–759.
Muste, Christopher. “Hidden in Plain Sight: Polling Data Show Moral Values Aren’t a New Factor.” Washington Post, December 12, 2004, p. B4.
Silverleib, Alan. “Analysis: Candidates Can’t Ignore Values-Based Voters.” CNN, August 15, 2008.