South Carolina: Will Economics Trump Religious Extremism?

I have written many times about the increasing correlation between a state's social conservatism -translate: religious extremism and social/cultural backwardness - and declining economic development and prosperity. South Carolina is a perfect example of this phenomenon where the extremism and intolerance of the states large numbers of far right evangelical Christians don't exactly make the state a welcoming prospect for progressive and cutting edge businesses. To the extent the state attracts jobs, it often lower paying lower skills jobs like those at Amazon’s new distribution center in Lexington County outside of Columbia. The end result is that South Carolina has one of the nation's highest unemployment rates - something that to some extent is self-inflicted in my view. Now, with the GOP primaries in the offing, GOP voters are faced with having to decide whether they will continue their Bible beating or start focusing instead on economic issues. The Washington Post looks at this coming intra-party conflict. Here are highlights (the image above is from the Post as well):
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The South Carolina Republican primary has accurately predicted the GOP presidential nominee for the past three decades, often in campaigns that revolved around guns, God and gays.
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But with South Carolina saddled with a 10 percent unemployment rate — one of the highest in the nation — the struggling economy is upending the priorities of many so-called values voters, forcing GOP candidates to rewrite their campaign playbooks.
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South Carolina’s pivotal role could be enhanced in 2012 because the state is suffering economic woes that both Iowa, with its 6 percent jobless rate, and New Hampshire, where unemployment is 4.8 percent, have managed to avoid.
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These days, the GOP candidates swinging through the state are playing up their economic credentials to appeal to such voters. Former Utah governor and ambassador Jon Huntsman was in South Carolina recently, telling voters about his business experience with his family’s chemical company.
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Meanwhile, all of the GOP candidates, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, who served as a Pennsylvania senator, have promoted their conservative stances on social issues. . . . . “The Republican morality issues are still important, but they are not nearly as important as the economy,” said Chris Drummond, a GOP consultant in South Carolina.
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Like Romney, Huntsman is a Mormon. But with the state battling double-digit unemployment, some say the religious issue does not resonate as it might have in the past. “With 19 percent unemployment in Marion County, do you think I care where you go to church?” Christmas asked. Vacant tobacco warehouses and abandoned textile mills dot the landscape in Marion County, providing reminders of the area’s once-vibrant economy.
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The economic predicament in Marion County, where unemployment was high long before the recession hit, is similar in much of northeastern South Carolina, a region struggling with high unemployment, an undereducated workforce and an uncertain future.
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“This is a conservative area, a conservative state,” said Eric Fry, a high school teacher who chairs Marion County’s Republican Party. “I know people don’t want to compromise their beliefs, but with the economic situation being what it is, I know they want answers there as well.”