This was to be expected, however, as Kerry represented the Democratic Party while Bush represented the Republicans. .
As such, both candidates garnered the support of very different constituencies, and very passionate ones at that. This study examines what positions individuals took on religion and other cultural issues in order to determine the extent to which they influenced the vote in 2004. I ultimately finds that positions on the Iraq war to be the most powerful predictor of voter preference with religion and other issues playing a strong role. .
Literature Review.
Before going in depth on the various predictors that influenced a person's decision to vote for either John Kerry or George W Bush in the 2004 election for the office of President of the United States, it is important to provide some context for the election. According to the literature, there are three main explanations as to why people turn out to vote and engage in campaigns in other manners: "characteristics of the individuals themselves such as socioeconomic status that affect political interest and knowledge, the mobilization efforts of campaigns, and the stakes people feel in the election outcome. " (Abramowitz and Stone, page 147) At the time, the 2004 election saw that a historically unprecedented number of ballots had been cast. One hundred and twenty two million people turned up to vote - a threshold that had never before been crossed - which equated to a turnout of about sixty one percent of eligible voters. (Abramowitz and Stone) This was up from a turnout of of 105.4 million voters, or 54.2% of all eligible voters, in the 2000 presidential election. (Panagopoulos and Bergan) The reason for this is key: this was the most polarized election in the countries history. People were eager to participate for a plethora of reasons and they did so in droves. .
Voting was not the only thing that reached historic heights in the 2004 election - a record number of Americans elected to participate in campaign activities other than voting.