Let's look at the respondents among some of the groups represented in tables 1 and 2 who favored or opposed same-sex marriage, which candidate they supported, and how they were represented in the electorate.

Married voters, especially married women, were a strong constituency for Bush, and they made up a larger share of the electorate than single voters, who were strongest for Kerry. Married women in the L.A. Times exit poll constituted 30 percent of the electorate, and they were five points more Republican than Democratic. They were also twelve points more conservative than liberal, and twelve points more conservative than moderate. They supported Bush over Kerry by 57 to 42 percent, while single women supported Kerry over Bush by 64 to 35 percent.

Voters who attended religious services at least weekly also were strongly behind Bush, and they made up 42 percent of the electorate, as compared to 28 percent for those who said they never worshipped. Those who worshipped frequently supported Bush by 65 percent to 34 percent for Kerry; and those who worshipped infrequently supported Kerry by 57 percent to 42 percent for Bush. In 2000, a Voter News Service (VNS) exit poll showed the same share of the electorate that was religious.

Registered voters in 2004 were also more conservative than liberal. Almost two out of five said they were politically conservative, compared to 32 percent who said they were liberal, and 29 percent who said they were middle-of-the-road. And Democrats and Republicans were virtually even in their share of the voters—40 percent Democrats and 39 percent Republicans. In a Times exit poll conducted in 2000, Democrats outpaced Republicans by seven points.

In the 2004 national exit poll conducted by the National Election Pool (NEP), 36 percent of the electorate was made up of white Protestant conservatives, and 24 percent were white born-again evangelicals. More than three-fifths of all three religious groups were opposed to gays legally forming civil unions, let alone getting married. In an L.A. Times preelection poll conducted in September, 12 percent of likely voters said they were white Protestant fundamentalist conservatives, and 22 percent said they were white Protestant fundamentalists.

Karl Rove, the Bush campaign's leading strategist, used Bush's conservative base as his strategy for winning the election. His goal was to energize that core base. He surmised that there were at least three million conservative, religious right voters who did not come out to vote in 2000, and if they came out this election, Bush would win.

In line with this supposition, Bush used throughout his campaign code-words the religious right would understand, such as "activist judges." He spoke of the right of every human being to have life, and talked often about God and faith. He preached to the faithful.

At the same time, churches around the country became political and urged all of their flock to vote for Bush. Some Catholic priests said that communion should not be given to any politician in favor of abortion. Bush stayed on message and kept repeating that the Republicans were the party of Jesus, God, and morality. He kept repeating that Democrats were too liberal—they were in favor of a woman's right to choose to have an abortion, of embryonic stem cell research, and of partial birth abortion.

And they favored same-sex marriage. It was no accident that eleven states had state constitutional amendments to ban gay marriage on their ballots this election. In all eleven, the measures passed, including two states—Oregon and Michigan—where Kerry won. Ohio, a must-win state for Kerry, was close—51 percent for Bush and 49 percent for Kerry. For the last week or two of the campaign there, the horserace was neck and neck. According to many Bush supporters—and some others as well—the religious right came out to vote and swung the election to Bush. The measure banning same-sex marriage passed in Ohio, 62 percent to 38 percent, even though the governor and Republican senators were opposed to it. The other eight states were red states anyway, but the measures on all of these states' ballots were overwhelmingly passed.