It just politics in America really. They use social issues to gain votes. There are many people in America who would do much better off with the economic policies of a democratic candidate, however they can't vote for them because of their social views. Many will only vote for someone who is against gay marriage, or against abortion, or other more conservative social views. This is a political move to gain votes of a large base of Americans. Many who have strong religious views are actually in the lower economic class and are voting only on the social aspects of candidates rather then whats actually 'best' for them.

Politics changes all the time and it is always about picking the topics to gain the most votes or cause the most damage to the other side. You didn't hear about the debt increase during the 8 years Bush was president, but when Obama used Keynesian economics to help the economy all you heard about was the amount of debt. It works to scare people and create fights and use this to your advantage. Everyone understood the debt ceiling had to be raised but using the leverage gets things you want in politics and hurts the other side.

Politics is best when you can scare people. Iran, Iraq, Debt, Religion, and Economy are all great methods of scaring people into believing that the other guy is doing a bad job. I would have to say though that Republicans have a much better strategic team then Democrats typically do. They are much better at getting their message out and pushing social issues to secure certain demographics and states. Some of the poorest states vote for people who in-turn vote for things that help big businesses and hurt their own interests. How you get people to vote against their own good has been a strength of Republicans for years and its predicated on using fear (at least for the last 30 years)