Larry Kudlow - Evangelicals Clinch It For Bush

The evidence points to Evangelicals as Bush's primary engine of victory.

A Virtuous Victory

by Larry Kudlow
November 3, 2004

Who would have thought that lying exit polls, socially conservative Democrats, and Evangelical Christians would have dwarfed traditional issues like national security and economic prosperity on Election Day 2004. But — at the margin and in important ways — the exit polls and the Evangelicals may have pushed President George W. Bush over the victory line.

The exit-polling phenomenon is a disgrace. Two companies, Edison Media Research and Mitofsky, did the polling for the Associated Press and the television networks. Their early results were devastating for Bush and his supporters — in one case showing Pennsylvania down by 19 percentage points, which was a complete fiction. Elsewhere, these fraudulent forecasts showed Kerry winning handily in Florida and Ohio. A solid pro-Bush stock market rally immediately reversed on this alleged news. Tradesports.com, the online pay-for-play poll, shifted from a near 20-point Bush victory forecast to a …