Another presidential campaign is taking shape, and potential Republican candidates are beginning to speak with extra care — and sometimes with censorious hellfire — about certain social issues. As ever, they’re bowing to a bloc of voters described as Christian conservatives.
But these voters are a minority of Christians. They’re not such representative conservatives.
They have a disproportionate sway over the Republican Party. And because of that, they have an outsize influence on the national debate.
That’s an inescapable takeaway from new data compiled by the Public Religion Research Institute, a nonpartisan group that interviewed more than 50,000 Americans last year.
Always Question Authority 
This adds up.
Yeah, read this this morning but am still not sure what to make of it. It seems to suggest there are some sober Republicans out there but I remain unconvinced. Many of these sober Republicans are still voting for people who still mouth absurdities and they still accept tropes that are antithetical to a public good. Thank you for showing some sense in a survey. Now, show some sense at the ballot box.
The column also reports the survey finds only 55% of Americans believe women should have the right to the choice of abortion. That was ALL Americans. That is still way too low a number and may be less than it was 20 years ago. It suggests to me that while the crazies and willfully ignorant are the loudest in the room, their volume is swaying more than just craven politicians.
“Many of these sober Republicans are still voting for people who still mouth absurdities and they still accept tropes that are antithetical to a public good.”
This is not unlike the tropes of the “moderate Christians,” or the “good cops.” If there were many “sober Republicans,” moderate Christians,” or “good cops,” it seems to me that they would not allow the bat shit crazy Republicans, the fundamental/evangelical Christians, or bad cops to be the voice of their respective tribes. Therefore, I find it difficult to believe many sober Republicans, moderate Christians, or good cops exist, and, for me, I have no use for either of them.
In Reason,
Madison