So what did we learn, as the Democratic Party roadshow passed through South Carolina?
What can reporters look for, during Super Tuesday, in terms of factual details that point to the dividing line between Sen. Bernie Sanders and the rest of the party faithful? Here’s another way of stating that question: What is it, precisely, that makes a ‘moderate’ Democrat a ‘moderate Democrat’?
Catching up with my reading after a busy weekend (my family, as Orthodox Christians, just headed into Lent), I think there are two think pieces that will help journalists and news consumers see part of the big picture.
Consider this dramatic double-decker headline from New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow:
Warnings From South Carolina
With Biden’s victory, minority and religious voters demand attention.
Here’s a key passage to think about:
… (W)ith Biden’s blowout victory in South Carolina, he breathed new life into his limping campaign, offering new hope not only to his campaign but also to moderate Democrats who have yet to settle on a primary champion.
But, aside from Biden’s victory, exit poll data from the state offers a number of warnings and signals for Democrats moving forward.
Once again, that question: What is a “moderate” Democrat in this context?
Among other things, a “moderate” Democrat is someone who frequents a sanctuary pew (#SURPRISE). Here is Blow’s take on that, as Democrats continue to — yes — pray for Barack Obama 2.0.
Look at the numbers here!
… There is a religious split that we should track and deeply consider. In South Carolina, 83 percent of voters said they attend religious services occasionally or more often than that. Biden won a majority of those voters. Sanders won only 17 percent of them. Sanders did, however, win a plurality of the 17 percent of voters who said they never attend religious services.
On this metric, South Carolina matches up rather well with the country as a whole. In 2016, 78 percent of voters said that they attended religious services at least a few times a year. The problem was that Donald Trump won those who attended those services most often.
Democrats must decide how important it is to have a candidate who can compete for those religious voters, or if a different coalition centering on different interests can compensate for this.
Perhaps the goal is a candidate who doesn’t make large numbers of traditional religious believers — and there are many, many of those in black churches — want to jump into a fallout shelter and lock the door? Can you say “religious liberty”?
With that in mind, consider this lively Washington Examiner prose from Timothy P. Carney, author of one of the must read books of this political season, “Alienated America.” The name of this column is, “Bernie Sanders in God’s country.” This ran just before South Carolina, but the hooks are still valid.
This is long, but essential:
The socialist from Vermont, who promises a revolution right here on Earth, is the candidate of atheists, agnostics, and the unaffiliated. That’s a young, white demographic. South Carolina, where about half of the Democratic electorate is African American, is a state of black Baptists and Southern Baptists.
At Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church in nearby Sumter, Joe Biden held a rally Saturday morning, the day before the state’s first-in-the-South primary.
Pastor James Blassingame spoke before the candidate, offering a prayer in Jesus’s name, asking for forgiveness and encouraging his flock to vote for Biden.
It was a bit different a few hours later at the Sanders rally at Finlay Park in Columbia. Instead of Pastor James, Sanders was introduced by Killer Mike, the rapper-turned-activist who has founded his own religion, the “Church of Sleep.” The reality show episode about Killer Mike’s religion was titled “New Jesus.”
As Vice magazine puts it, “Killer Mike is frustrated that black Christian communities are taught to worship a white Jesus,” and Mike’s church includes "a sermon in his favorite strip club where women pole-dance while a gospel choir sings and his parishioners pass around joints.”
Back to some polling material, for a moment:
When Morning Consult polled primary voters in 2019, Sanders’s strongest group was atheists (30% backing Sanders), followed by agnostics and then those who declared their religion as “nothing in particular.” His 30% of the atheist vote has probably grown since Kamala Harris dropped out and Elizabeth Warren dropped in the polls.
So, is religion part of the news equation on Super Tuesday?
Stay tuned.