Media mum on new Gallup poll showing values fourth priority, not first

Written by Nicole Casta

Published

On December 14, Editor & Publisher reported that a post-election nationwide Gallup poll found that “values” tied for fourth place as “the most important problem facing this country today.” The Gallup poll's findings contradicted numerous media reports, based on exit polls, that declared “moral values” was the most influential issue in the 2004 presidential election. According to the December 14 Gallup poll, “moral values” tied with unemployment and jobs, and ranked lower than the war in Iraq, terrorism, and the economy. Immediately after the election, the media was quick to trumpet values as the decisive issue -- yet there was almost no coverage of the recent Gallup results that could, as Editor & Publisher noted, “deal a death blow to the whole idea.”

Here are some post-election comments from media figures on the role of “moral values” in shaping the election, as Media Matters for America previously documented:

  • Dan Rather (CBS anchor): “Moral values -- we'll give you a look at the surprise issue that trumped the war, terror, and the economy as the decisive issue in the election.” [CBS, Evening News, 11/3/04]
  • Anderson Cooper (CNN anchor): “Well, for months, the presidential campaigns and pundits have debated whether the driving issues of this election would be Iraq or the economy. Turns out it was neither. Moral values ruled this election, with 22 percent of voters citing moral issues as their No. 1 concern.” [CNN, Anderson Cooper 360, 11/3/04]
  • Paula Zahn (CNN anchor): “Tonight, it is the decisive issue, the one pollsters didn't see coming -- millions of people voting their moral values. ... The exit polls are quite stunning, at least to some folks looking at these numbers for the first time, when it appears that moral issues trumped just about every other issue on the map here.” [CNN, Paula Zahn Now, 11/3/04]
  • Pat Buchanan (MSNBC analyst and former Republican presidential candidate): “It wasn't the economy or the war in Iraq or even the war on terror. Exit polls tell us moral values were most important in choosing a president.” [MSNBC, Scarborough Country, 11/3/04]
  • Bill Plante (CBS News White House correspondent): “In the end, it was not the Iraq war or the economy, the two issues most often mentioned as voters' biggest concerns, but moral values, which were the biggest factor in motivating people to go to the polls.” [CBS, The Early Show, 11/4/04]

What are they saying now about the new numbers that contradict their earlier claims? Not a thing. A Nexis search of “All News” sources from December 13 through December 19 for the words “Gallup” and “values” yielded only one relevant result: Ted Vaden, public editor for the Raleigh, N.C.-based News & Observer, noted in a December 19 column (free registration required), “The most recent Gallup Poll places the war in Iraq as the top public concern nationally (well ahead of ”values," we might note.)"