Posted on 11/16/2012 1:14:40 PM PST by JerseyanExile
Wait a sec, you say. Didn’t Gallup find just six months ago that the number who describe themselves as “pro-choice” was at a record low? Indeed they did.
But as the saying goes, my friends: Elections have consequences.
More voters than ever now identify themselves as pro-choice when it comes to abortion, and most rate the issue as important to how they vote.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely U.S. Voters shows that 54% describe themselves as pro-choice on the issue of abortion, while 38% say they are pro-life.
Let’s look at trends on abortion in a few recent polls. This one, from a WSJ poll in mid-October, isn’t too helpful because the only point of reference is data from March 2005. Even so, there’s a shift:
This, from a CNN poll taken in late August, is much more revealing:
Nice and steady there in the mid-20s for “legal under any circumstances” over the past five years — until suddenly, in August of this year, the number jumps. Why? Well, what else happened in August this year? Right: Todd Akin opened his yapper about “legitimate rape” and women’s supposed biological defense mechanisms against it and that was the beginning of the end for Republican chances to take back the Senate. How big a deal was it? Weeks later, the NYT poll was seeing more support for the idea that abortion should be “generally available” than it had in over 15 years:
The first column shows those who want abortion generally available, the second column shows those who think it should be available with stricter limits. Follow the last link and check the data and you’ll find that the last time “generally available” hit 42% was February 1995. Some of the movement may be due to Democrats’ relentless “war on women” messaging independent of Akin, but Akin was the rocket fuel they needed for it, I think. Nothing strange about that, really: Sentiments about abortion can shift quite sharply based on recent political circumstances. Remember what happened in Gallup’s polling on this subject shortly after O was inaugurated in 2009? Right — there was a sudden leap in the number who describe themselves as “pro-life,” to the point where it overtook “pro-choice” for the first time ever. That was mainly a reaction, I think, from abortion fencesitters who suddenly worried that O and his Democratic Congress might try to expand abortion rights too far. You’re seeing the opposite play out now with Akin, I suspect. Between him and Mourdock, fencesitters are alarmed at what they’re hearing about rape and are identifying as pro-choice to signal their opposition. That’ll level off in time, but it’s proof positive that Republicans lost more than just Senate seats when they said what they said. People who claimed that two inadvertently did damage to their own socially conservative cause weren’t kidding.
Rasmussen did fine. Don't shoot the messenger.
Rasmussen did not do fine. He was wrong.
I thought we were moving in the other direction on this issue? WTH is happening to this country? Whatever it is, it’s at warp speed.
Most of the people in this country believe what ever ad that they see. Advertising is powerful.
How did the pro-life movement do on November 6?
You are right, things are moving so fast, moving toward a dark place....I could say more but “dark place” pretty much sums it up..
MOgirl
Exactly. Ask Americans if they consider themselves pro-life and a majority will answer yes. Ask Americans if they think abortion should be illegal and a majority will answer no. So what we have is a majority of Americans who would not themselves get an abortion but don't necessarily believe it should not be an option. The classic "I'm totally pro-life (until something really bad happens that I didn't plan for and then I'll be glad I can do something about it).
Um, did you forget about Mourdock? Akins half retarded sep-brother from different mothers ? They truly snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and made Republicans look really bad.
Horrific. For perhaps the first time, it encouraged pro-life voters to vote for an open pro-abort, Mitt Romney. No wonder the article says "elections have consequences" and 54% now identify as pro-abortion.
You have to be joking.
Romney announced in late August that his position on abortion wasn't much different than Roe vs. Wade -- allowing for the wide-open exception of "health" of the mother (a loop hole that can mean almost anything...with the abortionist determining that).
In Dec of 07 Romney made a "pro-choice" statement to Katie Couric, saying that parents of embryos could either give them up for adoption -- OR to "research."
So, coercing MILLIONS of pro-life voters to vote for the first time for such a pro-abort, many crossed a bridge and aren't looking back.
(Or when pressed by fear-mongers to vote for an open pro-abort like Mitt, then they get skittish about their pro-life convictions, back off, and forever are lost to holding their candidates' pro-abortion posturing to the fire)
Nope. not joking. I don't pay too close of attention to this issue but it has always seemed I kept hearing "for the first time, more Americans consider themselves pro-life, etc. when polled etc.
I attributed it to new technologies that show earlier and earlier that this is, indeed, a baby and not a "clump of cells".
Now, I am led to think that people know it is a baby and still think it's OK to kill it. Pretty dark place we are headed.
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