Mark Stricherz of Get Religion notes the surpising absence of any reporting about the role of religion in the Democratic results in the Iowa caucus — in sharp contrast to the focus on the faith of the Republican voters:
After the caucus results came in, it was natural to assume that reporters would tell us about the Democratic Party’s commitment to religion. So what did reporters tell us? Well, the major papers told us . . . nothing.
Consider the major poll of those who attended the Iowa caucuses; it was done at the behest of the four major television networks plus CNN and the AP. Republicans were asked two questions: whether it mattered that the candidate shared his or her religious beliefs and whether the voter would describe himself or herself as a “born-again or evangelical Christian.” Democrats were asked — well, they were not asked anything about their religious beliefs or lack thereof.
The Washington Post and The New York Times, two rivals to the media behemoths that commissioned the Edison/Mitofsy poll, might have been expected to note the absence of religious questions to Democratic caucus-goers. Did any reporter at either paper do so? I didn’t see anything.
. . .
The absence of coverage about the Democratic Party’s faith is a major oversight, tantamount to not covering the religious faith of Republicans. By not following up on the Democrats-have-gotten-religion story, reporters further the idea that Democrats are basically a secular party. Conservatives like Ann Coulter can claim that Democrats are godless.
So what’s the deal?
Read it all here.
Melissa Rogers makes a similar point:
No wonder I was having such a difficult time yesterday finding the results of the surveys on the religious affiliations/beliefs of Democratic Iowa caucus-goers—the media apparently only asked those questions of Republican Iowa caucus-goers.
. . .
[T]he decision to ask this question of Republicans but not Democrats has a significant impact on how the media cover the election results, and it tends to strengthen the common but mistaken theme that religious people are a big factor in the Republican party but not in the Democratic party. That’s a problem that needs to be addressed.
Read it all here. A similar point was made here at the Faith and Public Life blog.
And there was indeed a story missed by most of the media, as explained by Kim Lawton on PBS:
Kim, welcome. Let’s start with Obama. To what extent did religion play a role in his campaign?
KIM LAWTON: It played a huge role and one that I think is not widely acknowledged. He had a very active effort to court people of faith, including some of those evangelical voters. He held a series of faith forums across Iowa. A lot of times he didn’t personally show up. His campaign had these meetings for people of faith, so it was under the radar partly because he wasn’t there, but he brought people together to talk about social justice and moral issues. His campaign, actually on the Web site, had a phone number that the week before the Iowa caucuses every day people could call at 8:30 in the morning and pray for Barack Obama’s campaign there. So it was very intense and very targeted.
. . .
ABERNETHY: And Clinton and Edwards in Iowa?
Ms. LAWTON: In Iowa, they didn’t have as strong of a faith-based outreach. Certainly it was there. Hillary Clinton’s campaign does have a faith and values strategy. It’s been a little more active in South Carolina than it was in Iowa, and I think that that’s going to come into play for her, coming up in South Carolina.
Read it here.
Like Mark asks: So what’s the deal. Would it not be all interesting to see if many evangelicals crossed over to support of the the Democratic candidates? Given that Obama’s faith (as well of that of Edwards and Clinton) were big news stories just a few months ago, why is the media assuming that faith is important only to Republican voters?