The blame game...
Nov. 10th, 2008 03:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bovilHokay.
"Blacks lost us Prop 8!"
Yeah, right.
There was a groundswell of black voters in California this cycle, true. They're still only a large enough voting block to really make a difference in races with tight margins like the Prop 8 race.
It's slicing up the electorate in ways that don't really make sense. The bigger issue is churchgoing and evangelical voters. Here are the "yes" numbers from the exit polls:
All of those groups are larger than the black vote, and the first and last include many black voters. Still, that's even slicing up things too simply (well, except white evangelicals). There were faith groups campaigning against Prop 8.
A big bunch of the blame rests with the "No" campaign. The advertising was sucktacular. So much time was spent countering the lies of the "Yes" campaign that our message never got out.
I don't know, though, that the "No" campaign knew how to get our message out.
Where were the "A 'yes' vote is a vote to end our marriage" ads?
Where were the ads featuring interracial straight couples recalling when their marriages were illegal?
Where were the ads featuring supportive ministers of all faiths and denominations asking for the right to perform same-sex marriages?
Where were the ads showing that, while domestic partnerships in law confer all the rights and responsibilities of marriage, we continuously have to fight to get organizations and people to obey that law and grant us our rights?
Where was our narrative?
Oh, and where were the ads featuring Governor Arnie, who constantly walks a tightrope claiming one thing and doing the opposite?
"Blacks lost us Prop 8!"
Yeah, right.
There was a groundswell of black voters in California this cycle, true. They're still only a large enough voting block to really make a difference in races with tight margins like the Prop 8 race.
It's slicing up the electorate in ways that don't really make sense. The bigger issue is churchgoing and evangelical voters. Here are the "yes" numbers from the exit polls:
- weekly churchgoers: 84%
- white evangelicals: 81%
- white protestants: 65%
- Catholics: 64%
All of those groups are larger than the black vote, and the first and last include many black voters. Still, that's even slicing up things too simply (well, except white evangelicals). There were faith groups campaigning against Prop 8.
A big bunch of the blame rests with the "No" campaign. The advertising was sucktacular. So much time was spent countering the lies of the "Yes" campaign that our message never got out.
I don't know, though, that the "No" campaign knew how to get our message out.
Where were the "A 'yes' vote is a vote to end our marriage" ads?
Where were the ads featuring interracial straight couples recalling when their marriages were illegal?
Where were the ads featuring supportive ministers of all faiths and denominations asking for the right to perform same-sex marriages?
Where were the ads showing that, while domestic partnerships in law confer all the rights and responsibilities of marriage, we continuously have to fight to get organizations and people to obey that law and grant us our rights?
Where was our narrative?
Oh, and where were the ads featuring Governor Arnie, who constantly walks a tightrope claiming one thing and doing the opposite?
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no subject
Date: 2008-11-11 02:52 am (UTC)Where religious outreach would have helped was with all the other Christian denominations. There's a very strong socially liberal Catholic tradition that's often at odds with the hierarchy (which is why the exit polls showed only 65% of Catholics voting "yes"). Mainstream Protestant denominations are often inclusive and socially liberal. Religious outreach would also have probably been successful with non-Christian religions.
Finally, religious outreach might have even convinced some of the evangelicals and Mormons that voting their religious beliefs into law might come back to bite them when some other religious group attempts to do the same thing.