Media is QUIET on new Gallup poll showing values fourth priority, not first

On December 14, Editor & Publisher reported that a post-election nationwide Gallup poll found that "values" tied for fourth place as "the most important problem facing this country today." The Gallup poll's findings contradicted numerous media reports, based on exit polls, that declared "moral values" was the most influential issue in the 2004 presidential election. According to the December 14 Gallup poll, "moral values" tied with unemployment and jobs, and ranked lower than the war in Iraq, terrorism, and the economy. Immediately after the election, the media was quick to trumpet values as the decisive issue -- yet there was almost no coverage of the recent Gallup results that could, as Editor & Publisher noted, "deal a death blow to the whole idea. [more]