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Article:
Bush's Election Victory: Ethics, Morality and Religion Defeated War, Economy and Foreign Policy by: Shafquat Rabbee President George W. Bush has unofficially won his re-election bid defeating Democratic challenger Senator John Kerry. The election was close, no doubt, but it was by no means a re-run of the 2000 election drama. Because this time, Bush bagged a convincing victory by winning both Electoral College and Popular votes. The election which was heralded to be the most important in America's recent history ended up being an 'as-usual-election', where Democrats and Republicans relied heavily on respective party's supporter-base for victory. This means, even though the election was thought to be an election where people will vote outside party lines based on issues like war on Iraq and the economy, at the end of the day people voted avidly in line with party affiliations. Liberals, atheists, pro Choice groups, environmentalists, blacks, gay-lesbians, voted over-whelmingly for Democrats whereas Religious, Church going populations of the Central, Southern and Northern America voted overwhelmingly for the Republicans. Although it was thought that the Iraq war and the state of the Economy and to certain extent terrorism will decide the outcome of the election, none of these issues seem to have any major impact. For example, exit polls showed that among the New Jersey voters, who lost most lives in the 9/11 attacks, 86% believed that another terrorist attack is coming but they still voted for Senator John Kerry. John Kerry had a landslide victory in New Jersey. This proves, terrorism did not actually prove to be a election winner for George W. Bush. What actually impacted the most is moral issues, ethics and religion. In America, 'religiousness' has its own political dimension. Certain not-so-obvious issues having potentials to damage religion are considered as contentious religious issues that can win or lose votes in America. At the forefront of these so called religious issues are Gay-Lesbian marriage, Pro Choice abortions and stem cell research. Americans saw a spree of gay marriages in San Francisco and Massachusetts in the early part of the year '2004
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