Stem-Cell Research: Democratic Wedge Issue?

The Republican Party has a number of "wedge issues" - a wedge issue is something that splits the opposition party. They use the wedges of abortion, homosexuality, and prayer to split off from the Democrats people who might vote for them but who support Republican positions on those wedges. Might stem-cell research be a wedge issue for the Democrats to split Republicans?

Mark Kleiman thinks so:

Who's going to vote for Bush this year? Very roughly speaking, four groups: social conservatives, hawks, corporate opponents of litigation and regulation, and fans of the tax cut. (Obviously, the last two groups overlap considerably, but they're distinct interests.) Many hawks, corporatistas, and tax-cut beneficiaries have aging parents, or are themselves aging. Moreover, many of them are devout believers in the promise of science and technology.

Lots of the social-conservative agenda makes the hawks and the rich guys nervous, or even nauseates them (some are gay; many have gay friends or family members), but that stuff is mostly shadow-boxing and they know it: the gay-bashing amendment isn't going to pass, for example, and there's no imminent threat that prosperous women will be denied access to abortion services. But stem cell research is different: it really matters to the social conservatives because they consider it part of the abortion fight, and Bush's resulting policies really threaten both the material interests and the ideology of the other parts of his coalition.

Kerry was never going to get any votes from those seriously opposed to stem-cell research, so his support for it won’t lose him any votes. At the same time, though, it might get him votes from people who might otherwise vote Republican (because they support that party’s economic policies, for example) but who are horrified at the idea of such research being hindered by the Christian Right. This is a parallel situation to people who might vote Democratic but don’t because they are horrified at the idea of helping a party that supports equal rights for gays.

Will it work? Perhaps — Mark certainly thinks so and I have no specific reason to think he is mistaken. It’s possible, though, that the issue isn’t quite “ripe” enough yet. A stronger context might require obviously beneficial research being performed abroad, thus emphasizing what we are losing. Until then, the promise of what stem-cell research might provide may remain too nebulous for people to base voting decisions upon.

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