YOU CAN BE EITHER TOLERANT OR MORAL:

Conservatives, morals linked in poll (Jennifer Harper, 2/14/05, THE WASHINGTON TIMES)

Americans have come to perceive conservatism as a stronghold of traditional ideas: According to a new Harris poll, the public believes conservatives support moral values and oppose same-sex "marriage," homosexual rights and abortion.

And liberals provided almost a mirror image of the findings.

According to a survey of 2,209 adults in mid-January, 85 percent said conservatives opposed same-sex "marriage." When asked the same question about liberals, 78 percent said the group would support same-sex "marriage."

Another 81 percent said conservatives opposed homosexual rights while 82 percent said that liberals would support the same issue.

In addition, 77 percent said conservatives opposed abortion rights and 84 percent said liberals supported those rights. [...]

The poll found that 78 percent felt conservatives supported moral values, while 54 percent said the same about liberals. A further breakdown of the question showed that 28 percent felt liberals actually opposed moral values, while 10 percent said the same about conservatives.

Hard to imagine a more disastrous turn of event for a political party in a Puritan nation than to become associated in the public mind with amorality or even immorality.

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 19, 2005 4:41 PM