Though social issues are important when making a voting decision, many religious students say the economy is ultimately the deciding factor in today’s presidential election.
“The No. 1 issue to me is, of course, the economy and the national debt. Social issues really aren’t that big of a deal to me right now,” said political science senior Cameron Cooke, member of the Baptist Collegiate Ministry.
Cooke said if the economy was better, he would value social issues more than fiscal matters.
Cooke said he will vote for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney today, not because he is his first choice, but because he agrees with Romney on most issues.
Cooke said he looks at which candidate would line up most with Christ’s teachings in the Bible, specifically those concerning abortion and gay marriage.
“I’m not going to say Jesus would be Republican, because that’s ridiculous,” Cooke said. “We as Christians are obligated to search through the Scripture to decide what it is that Christ would see as appropriate and represent what being Christian is all about.”
Cooke noted that though he believes marriage is a church matter, he believes Christ would still embrace the LGBTQ community.
“It’s a hard line to walk, but I do believe with pro-choice and homosexuality [stances], Christ would be adamantly against. He would say to love one another, and not damn people to hell,” Cooke said.
Cooke said he would only vote for a candidate who is pro-choice in rare circumstances.
“It would take a lot in me,” he said. “It would have to be very serious.”
Jessica Waggoner, communication disorders junior, also said the economy is the most important issue in the election, but she said she wouldn’t vote for a candidate who doesn’t believe what she does.
Waggoner said her Christian faith helped her make the decision to vote for Romney, though she doesn’t agree with everything he stands for.
“I want things to change. I don’t feel there are a lot of jobs left right now,” she said.
Waggoner said she is pro-life like Romney, but she is mainly voting for him because he will try to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Alise Vedrenne, communication disorders senior, said social issues are most important to her, only after the economy.
“[Romney] more agrees with me on social issues, like the pro-life thing. I’m just ready for a change,” Vedrenne said.
Vedrenne said her Catholic faith has helped shaped her views on abortion. She said she would only vote for a pro-choice candidate if she mostly agreed with every other stance.
“My faith doesn’t affect everything. My faith mainly just affects the pro-life/pro-choice aspect of the elections,” Vedrenne said.
Allen Mire, English junior, said he will vote for Green Party nominee Jill Stein because he doesn’t agree much with either President Barack Obama or Romney, though he prefers Obama.
“There really isn’t a negative for me voting my values in the election,” Mire said. “There’s a snowball’s chance in Louisiana for Obama to win.”
Mire attends the Unitarian church, and said though he’s not sure where he stands ethically on abortion, he feels that the government shouldn’t regulate something that could be dangerous if made illegal.
The self-proclaimed humanist said social issues like abortion should be cultural issues, not government problems.
Mire also said it is interesting that the “religious right” have gotten behind Romney because there were questions about his Mormon faith in the primaries.
“It’s kind of amazing he was able to beat both [Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann] to become the nominee,” Mire said.
Mire said Republicans may have supported Romney because his campaign was centered on economic issues and not social issues.
Harrison Winslow, an atheist and biology major, said social issues are “ruled a lot by people’s beliefs.”
Winslow said he will most likely vote for Obama today, but he may vote for Gary Johnson. He said social issues are particularly important in his decision-making.
“I don’t feel like Mitt Romney is a very suitable candidate,” Winslow said. “I guess fiscal matters don’t matter that much as social issues because I’m young.”
‘The No. 1 issue to me is, of course, the economy and the national debt. Social issues really aren’t that big of a deal to me right now.’
