Social issues shake up U.S. race
Pre-election debate goes beyond economy to abortion, gay marriage
WASHINGTON— All of the sudden, abortion, contraception and gay marriage are at the centre of American political discourse, with the struggling, though improving, economy in the background.
Social issues don’t typically dominate the discussion in shaky economies. But they do raise emotions important to factors like voter turnout. And they can be key tools for political candidates clamouring for attention, campaign cash or just a change of subject in a presidential election year.
But the economy still tops the list of voters’ concerns and likely will still shape this presidential election. It’s not yet known to what extent, if at all, social issues will influence voters on election day.
Jobs, jobs, jobs — it has been the governing mantra of both parties since the economic bust of 2008, through U.S. President Barack Obama’s sweeping overhaul of health insurance and the 2010 elections that returned control of the House of Representatives to the Republicans.
Since then, voters have turned angry while remaining anxious over the economy’s crawl toward stability.
Then, as the Republican nomination fight churned with no resolution in sight, the economy began to grow. Unemployment rates dipped. And a cascade of cultural political developments inspired a new set of talking points for political hopefuls:
Supporters of Planned Parenthood, which provides abortion services as well as screenings for breast cancer, helped force the resignation of Susan G. Komen for the Cure executive Karen Handel after the breast cancer research group cut grants to the organization, then reversed course.
Catholic bishops began sparring with the White House over a new requirement that Catholic-affiliated institutions such as hospitals and schools must provide insurance coverage for birth control for their employees even though the church opposes artificial contraception.
A federal appeals court in California struck down the state’s gay marriage ban, prompting criticism from the Republican presidential candidates and others who charged that unelected judges were overruling the will of voters.
For both parties, social policy puts key constituencies at stake. Republicans are courting the religious conservatives that populate their base, including Catholics in battleground states like Ohio and Pennsylvania. And Obama is trying to preserve support among women, moderates and independents. Wednesday was a key pivot point. Hours after Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum won all three states Tuesday and stalled front-runner Mitt Romney’s winning streak, congressional leaders issued tightly coordinated statements on another subject: The White House’s policy on birth control coverage was a government mandate that threatens religious freedom and violates the Constitution. In a floor speech rare for a Speaker of the House, John Boehner, a Catholic, accused the administration of undermining some of the country’s most vital institutions, such as Catholic charities, schools and hospitals. He demanded Obama rescind the policy and pledged Congress would if he didn’t. “This attack by the federal government on religious freedom in our country cannot stand, and will not stand,” Boehner said. But where Republicans cast the White House’s contraception policy as an assault on the freedom of religion itself, Democrats argued for the preservation of affordable birth control for women. Rushing to end a political uproar, Obama announced on Friday that religious employers will not have to cover birth control for their employees after all. The administration instead will demand that insurance companies be the ones directly responsible for providing free contraception.