Michael Gerson analyzes the role of the Roman Catholic Church in the 2012 election, but also discusses the evangelical Protestants. Both have failed to reach out to the Hispanic voter.
Catholics have a historical advantage in understanding the imperative
of inclusion in modern politics. They belong, after all, to an
institution that has been multicultural since Peter first set foot in
Rome. But white evangelicals are now getting their own education in
coalition politics. They gave Mitt Romney a remarkable 79 percent of
their vote — the same share that George W. Bush received in 2004 — while
constituting a larger percentage of the electorate than they did in
2004. But their energy and loyalty were rendered irrelevant — washed
away — by GOP failures among other groups.
“Rather than a
repudiation of cultural conservatism,” concludes Green, “this was an
election in which cultural conservatives did everything they could, but
the party fell short.”
In the long run, social conservatives will
have serious trouble exerting influence unless they are allied with
rising ethnic populations, which tend toward conservative social views.
But social conservatives are now in a toxic alliance with political
forces — the wall-builders and advocates of self-deportation — that are
alienating rising ethnic populations.
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