National Catholic Register Asks: "What [Type of] Voter Are You?"

From the October 26-November 1 issue of National Catholic Register:

The time approaches when we must vote again. That means that pro-lifers are once again receiving two pointed criticisms: “You shouldn’t be a single-issue voter” and “What’s the point in voting pro-life when neither party is going to change the legality of abortion, anyway?”

They are both fair questions. We would like to address both by examining the alternatives. What other kinds of voters are there, and what are their track records of success?

1. The No-Issue Voter

Many voters, truth be told, aren’t single-issue voters or multi-issue voters. They are “no-issue” voters. They may vote for the candidate who seems most “presidential.”

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2. The Partisan Voter

Americans tend to pick, and cheer for, our party affiliations in much the way we pick our favorite teams...

But political parties aren’t like teams. They embrace policy positions on matters of life and death.

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Instead of being loyal to parents’ party preference, we should rediscover what principles led them to embrace a political party. Those principles might be worth our loyalty, even if the party no longer is.

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3. The Single-Issue Economic Voter

Often, when someone says, “Don’t be a single-issue voter,” what they really mean is: “Make the economy, not abortion, your single issue.”

To be fair, not all economic voters are concerned about their own wallets. Some want their votes to help the poor. But the problem with both is that economic issues are more complex than our votes make them out to be.

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4. The Single-Issue Right-to-Life Voter

And so we come to the single-issue abortion voter.

If we tend to over-simplify the economy to justify our vote for a candidate, we tend to over-complicate the right to life. We would never vote for someone who was pro-slavery, simply because slavery is wrong, no matter what. Abortion is like that.

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