'Moral values a surprise factor in Bush victory'

According to exit polls, moral values topped the list of issues that most influenced voters, beating out the topics most bandied about by pundits in the lead-up to the vote -- the economy and terrorism.

And the voters who cited values as their top priority overwhelming voted for Republican George W. Bush over Democrat John Kerry, by 80 to 18 percent, the figures showed.

Bush's political strategist Karl Rove said Sunday Bush would continue to push for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage during his second term in office, giving back to the conservative voters who helped keep him in the White House.

For conservatives, the term "moral values" is code for opposition to abortion and gay marriage, among other issues. Observers were surprised by the extent to which those issues rallied voters.

"I think a lot of us who do political analysis just missed it entirely," said Eric Davis, professor of political science at Middlebury College in Vermont.

"I think we were using conventional frames of reference, economic policy, foreign policy. The Bush campaign did a very good job of mobilizing voters who are concerned about gay marriage, abortion, prayer in the schools and gun control," he said.

The movement was invisible to political scientists following the election because "it was based in churches," he said.

"That was probably the biggest surprise of the election. What it turned out to be was Bush's two issues, which were terrorism and moral values, trumping Kerry's two issues, which were Iraq and the economy," said Stephen Hess, a political expert at the Brookings Institution.

"Protestant evangelicals and pentecostals voted in much heavier numbers than they had in the past," he said. Overall, turnout was heavier than at any time since 1968, with close to 60 percent of eligible voters casting ballots.