When you look at the exit poll numbers for what people considered to be the "most important issue," they come out like this:

Moral Values (22%)

Economy/Jobs (20%)

Terrorism (19%)

Iraq (15%)

Health Care (8%)

Taxes (5%)

Education (4%)

A lot has been made of this, but it's possible that it was just a poor question. "Moral Values" covers a LOT of territory, including the honesty of the candidate, integrity, and any number of moral issues besides simply gay marriage or abortion. Pretty vague.

On the other hand, the other issues were carved up into subcategories. Iraq and Terrorism could, rightly or wrongly, have been combined into "war on terror." "Economics" could have had taxes swept into it. If either of these had been done, they would have added up to more than 22 percent.

It would have been more instructive to see the "moral values" question actually divided up into controversial moral issues.