I used to be politically Conservative/Republican because of my upbringing.

My parents were Kennedy democrats and grew up Catholic, but the first presidential election I could remember as a young child (6 yrs old) was the 1980 election. I remember my mom and dad supported Jimmy Carter because "he was for working people and he is a good man.".

Fast forward to 1984. I'm 10 now, and for some reason I took an interest in watching the presidential campaign.

My parents switched sides becoming Regan democrats. The issue that swayed them? By then our family had joined a non denominational christian church and my parents grew strong in their faith. Abortion became an important political issue, as was school prayer. By then the Republican party had successfully turned those issues into political wedge issue where devout Christians from more conservative evangelical, conservative non denominational and Conservative Catholics joined forces to form what became known as the Religious right.

Anyway... My parents had switched sides. Republicans were the "good guys" and democrats were the bad guys.

The only time they switched, briefly was Bill Clinton's election against the first Bush. They voted for Perot, but at least for Clinton's first term, they regarded him as a variant of Jimmy Carter, even voting against Bob Dole in the 96 election.

Then..Monica Lewinsky. That pissed them off. They were old school in that you did nothing to tarnish the office of the president. It's what turned them against Nixon too, btw.L