My claim was that Bush used homophobia in his reelection campaign. The writer is saying that's not what brought people to vote for Bush, but is still acknowledging Bush's anti-gay strategy. Balz is agreeing with me.
This was your claim:
He relied completely on the culture war with the two main issues being abortion and gay marriage.
The writer is saying that's not what brought people to vote for Bush, but is still acknowledging Bush's anti-gay strategy. Balz is agreeing with me.
"Balz" is cited in the article you attempted to pass of as "evidence" for your claim that "Bush relied
completely on the culture war with the two main issues being abortion and gay marriage" saying "In 2004, Republicans used ballot initiatives barring same‐sex marriage to spur turnout among their conservative voters. That strategy
helped then‐President George W. Bush win reelection."
Do you understand the difference between your claim that "Bush relied
completely on the culture war with the two main issues being abortion and gay marriage" is a
fact, and the
opinion of "Balz, who said, "That strategy
helped then‐President George W. Bush win reelection"?
The
author of the the article you attempted to pass of as "evidence" for your claim that "Bush relied
completely on the culture war with the two main issues being abortion and gay marriage" plainly states "Bush’s share of the vote rose just slightly less in the marriage‐ban states than in the other states: up 2.6 percent in the states with marriage bans on the ballot, up 2.9 percent in the other states."
Additional, he cites Simon Jackman, who concluded, "the marriage referenda tended to increase turnout but not to increase Bush’s share of the vote", and quotes Matthew Dowd, who said, "Speaking from experience as the chief strategist in 2004 for President Bush, I saw in close detail how little gay marriage could influence turnout of conservatives or evangelicals. In 2003 and 2004, we did a series of public opinion tests on different messages related to the micro targeting project that would cause voter groups to turn out more in President Bush’s favor. We tested social issues as well as messages related to the economy, national security, taxes and the size of the federal government. Not a single social issue (which included gay marriage) fell on the effectiveness scale in the top eight messages. Further, in analyzing the election returns in the aftermath of the 2004 presidential race an interesting set of data was revealed. In states that had gay marriage amendments on the ballot including key target states, there was no statistical difference in turnout of conservatives from states that did not have these amendments on the ballot. Gay marriage had no effect on turnout even among the most conservative potential voters in both the data before Election Day and the returns on Election Day."
The article concludes with "Other senior officials from the 2004 Bush campaign confirm: It wasn’t gay marriage that brought social conservatives to the polls, it was national security and the war on terror."
Your claim is unproven.
