Posted on 09/25/2004 7:41:29 PM PDT by Lorianne
A new poll conducted by the Los Angeles Times shows pro-abortion Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry losing his lead among women voters to President Bush.
Though abortion advocates want him to place more emphasis on his position in favor of abortion, Kerry's decline could be because women are less interested in backing abortion than in years past.
A Gallop poll released last week shows Kerry leading Bush among women voters by a 50 to 46 percent margin. That's down from the 15 point lead Kerry held in a similar June poll and lower than the 11 point margin Al Gore had over Bush in the 2000 election.
Despite the former director of the pro-abortion PAC Emily's List, Mary Beth Cahill, managing Kerry's campaign, abortion advocates say Kerry should spend more time touting abortion.
"The women's vote should not be taken for granted," Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women, told the Los Angeles Times in response to the poll. "He runs the risk of [losing] the entire campaign."
"The fact is that George Bush is the commander in chief of a war on choice," Gloria Feldt, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, told the Times. "Kerry needs to smoke Bush out and he also needs to advance his own agenda."
Seeking not to offend swing voters in pro-life states such as Missouri, Minnesota and West Virginia, Kerry has backed off of promoting his pro-abortion views since a pro-abortion rally in April.
At that rally, pro-life students were injured as they were dragged away by NARAL activists.
According to the Times, some of the pro-abortion activists have attempted to get the Kerry campaign to focus more on abortion, but senior aides have resisted.
However, that may change soon.
Kerry will attend a luncheon hosted by Redbook magazine on Monday and is expected to tout his pro-abortion views.
President Bush has been going after the women's vote with his "W is for Women" outreach, headed by First Lady Laura Bush. The Bush re-election campaign has been arming women supporters with information about Bush's record for women.
Pro-life groups say the Bush administration has been strongly pro-woman on abortion issues.
They point to his policy expanding funding of the CHIP program, a health insurance program for poor children, to include pregnant women so they can receive medical coverage during pregnancy. The policy should lead to a decrease in abortions.
Bush also draws praise from pro-life advocates for signing "Laci and Conner's Law" -- legislation that protects pregnant women from violence.
Named after Laci and Conner Peterson, the federal law allows prosecutors to charge criminals with two crimes when they attack a pregnant woman and kill or injure her unborn child.
Earlier this year, pro-abortion leaders admitted that abortion doesn't drive women voters as it has in the past.
The political director of Emily's List told the Christian Science Monitor newspaper in July that abortion is not an issue that drive women voters -- nor is it their top priority.
Karen White of Emily's List, a political organization that backs pro-abortion candidates, says abortion "is not an issue where a woman wakes up every morning and says, 'I am going to look up what my candidate thinks on abortion.'"
"Now, while it may be an important issue, and she may have a very strong opinion about it, [it] is not what is driving her to vote," White admitted.
A June 2003 poll conducted by the Center for the Advancement of Women, which backs abortion, confirms White's statement.
The survey found that 51% took a pro-life position opposing most or all abortions while only thirty percent said it should be generally available.
The poll also found that keeping abortion legal was the next to last most important priority for women. Fewer than half (41%) cite preserving abortion as a priority -- down from 49 percent
I definitely decide how to vote based on abortion-I will only vote for who is AGAINST IT.
it is security .... closer we get to the elections the more folks will go with Bush....
abortion issues are bullsh##! women AND men are concerned about having the opportunity to decide what to do about an unplanned baby based on whether they are ALIVE to have one in the 1st place! It's all about security and terrorism!
The culture in America is slowly shifting away from abortion. As people are having children later and later in life, unwanted pregnancies are down. This "cornerstone" of the liberal doctrine is becoming less and less important to the population. If this is the case, we could be seeing the REAL end of the democratic party as we know it, and what has been predicted for several years now. Anyone else agree, disagree?
I agree. A lot of my peers (I was born in 1974, year after Roe v. Wade) that would have been born to liberal parents were aborted and don't exist. It's no wonder we're mostly conservative.
I would never vote for someone that was pro-choice no matter what their views on terrorism. We have to trust our leaders and their judgment in times when they are deciding based on information we don't have access to. I could never trust anyone who thought it was ok to kill unborn children.
The use of pro-abortion for pro-choice exposes the writers prejudices. I'm pro-choice, life being the preferable choice, but not the only one.
I agree with you, but how do you reconcile the fact that
1. more women than not say they are against abortion; and
2. most women quietly support the status quo that has lasted almost 30 years.
The most likely conclusion I draw is that most women tell the pollsters one thing yet quietly like having abortion available. Their historic support for democrats and 'Abortions R Us' candidates betrays their words to pollsters.
I wish it wasn't the case, but it appears to me that given the status quo (which isn't changing anytime in the next 1/4 century), thats the most likely conclusion to draw.
Sad.
At least among the women I know, but I mostly know other owmen attorneys, and that is probably not a good dissection of our society.
Actually it is not. It tells me every thing I ever need to know about a persons personality and whether he or she can be trusted with the responsibility of leadership in government. I would never vote for a pro-choice person. If a person can not tell whether or not killing a baby is right or wrong, there is no way I would ever trust his judgment on other matters.
I agree. As the culture ages too, it becomes more conservative ... not necessarily to the more Conservatives .... but the middle/independents is growing and liberals are shrinking.
I dunno. Polls consistently show that more women are against abortion than are for it. Margins differ, but that has been a main argument of the pro life side.
I am an (inactive) member of the NY Bar, and worked in two major NYC law firms (with initials of SRZ and SS, though I hate mentioning names). I agree - lawyers are a poor cross section of society. They also tend to be loathesome creatures. ;-)
That's why I never feel too bad for them when their marriages and personal lives fall apart. We all get what we deserve, you know.
I can answer that by telling you what I hear out of the mouths of most women:
WEll I would never have one, but who am I to tell someone else what she should do with her body.
Basically you have many many women who know better, they know it is wrong, but, for whatever reason they want to allow others to continue to do harm to another person. Weakness of character maybe? I've seen a number of women fold under the pressure to be popular in their circle and add contigencies to their strongly held beliefs on abortion, staying home with children, etc.
I know very little about NY firms. I am licensed in Wisconsin and Kentucky. Most of the polls I have seen have maybe put prolife ahead by 1 or 2, probably within the margin of error.
I think most lawyers go to law school with the ideal of helping people or making a difference. Then we get $75000 in debt and can't take $30,000 legal assitance jobs because you can't afford to pay your loans back. I'm lucky enough now to work in a private company, but a lot of the kids coming out of law school can't find jobs at all- it's no wonder lawyers are less than honest. There's too many of them and there's no reward for discretion.
I basically agree with you, but I question their statement 'I would never have one..." I think in a jam, many (though maybe not most) would have one.
Speculative on my part, I admit. I just don't see any commitment on the part of those who say they are against abortion to limit it in any way (for the reasons you mention, as well as other reasons).
A shame.
Who says? You have posted this on two threads, now with no evidence but your own assertion. As a woman, I beg to differ. I know no one who opposes abortion who also "quietly supports it". I don't know where you get that idea.
Depends on the polls. A recent one, bouncing around a thread on FR now, has the margin 51-30 or so. I suppose the other 19% who are uncertain for whatever reason are probably in the abortion-on-demand camp.
Some polls also have consistently shown that more men support abortion than women. If true, what do you make of that? I have my own theories...
In any cases, I would like to see a paradigm shift re: abortion and a more serious and meaningful movement for life. If that happened, abortion can be legal but more women than now would not seek it as an option.
That paradigm shift, for me anyway, is the predicate of meaningful legislative change, not the result of a sudden legislative change.
You are very correct re: law students. As for me, I didn't go to law school with the idea of making a difference or helping people. It just seemed like a good idea at the time! ;-)
This is very interesting. I don't think there's no doubt that the men of my generation and younger are NOT interested in responsibility, i.e. why most of us are not getting married until around 30. I got married at 23 and people my age (30) think I got married SO young. My grandma thought that I barely escaped being an old maid! LOL! I'd also like to see a breakdown of the men by ethnicity.
I think we are starting to see this paradigm shift. Poll after poll shows 85% or better of people favor at least SOME restrictions on abortion. That is a shift from only 10 years ago. There are fewer and fewer people who are for abortion on demand at any time for any reason.
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