European Christian Democratic parties

[Barnabas]

I have three questions


Why do people vote for Christian Democratic parties?

Is it because they are rather moderate?


What kind of people vote for Christian Democratic parties?
I don´t think most the millions who voted for Merkel go to church every sunday.


Have you ever voted for a christian democratic party?

[Maniac]

In some countries the christian-democrats are the center, with on the left the socialists and on the right the liberals. In other countries they are the conservative right with the socialists on the left.

I have voted once for the christian-democrats (on local level) because my mother was on the list.

The Belgian christian-democratic is probably one of the most left-leaning anywhere though. There's a labour union here of christian origin etc.

[BeBMan]

Re: European Christian Democratic parties

Originally posted by Barnabas
I have three questions


Why do people vote for Christian Democratic parties?

Multiple reasons certainly. One "classic" view by voters in (Western) Germany pre-unification was that from the two big parties the Christian Democrats (CDU) would rather get the economic issues right, while the Social Democrats (SPD) would rather get social issues right. But this is a very superficial view, and things changed quite a bit, so it's more of a cliche than a fact.

Is it because they are rather moderate?

and

What kind of people vote for Christian Democratic parties?
I don´t think most the millions who voted for Merkel go to church every sunday.

Moderate in religous terms compared to (parts of the) US Republicans - yes. Truth is that things move rather secular here (with some regional differences), and many Christians rather hold moderate views as well, so even for the CDU it doesn't make sense to overplay the religious part. There are some issues which surface from time to time where religion plays a bigger role (abortion, the entire debate about "values" etc.), but aside from those the CDU doesn't govern the country much more explicitly "Christian" than a SPD gov would do (and they have btw lots of Christian members/voters too), which of course also has to do with the fact that usually we have coalitions...

(Can't speak for other Euro countries, of course)

Have you ever voted for a christian democratic party?

No.

[MarkG]

i dont think the Christian part mean anything anymore, especially nothing to do with the relation the Republicans have with the certain churches

[germanos]

Re: European Christian Democratic parties

Originally posted by Barnabas
I have three questions


Why do people vote for Christian Democratic parties?

Is it because they are rather moderate?

Yes, in a conservative sense.

What kind of people vote for Christian Democratic parties?
I don´t think most the millions who voted for Merkel go to church every sunday.

Since they get a quarter of the votes, I'd say they're not a very homogenic (sp?) group. And certainly not a quarter of the population here goes to church every week . The CD has been in the center of power for ages, and I guess most people just like to vote for calm and quiet, and for what they know they will get.
Christianity as such is not a big profiling issue for the CD either.

Have you ever voted for a christian democratic party?

Hell No!