California Poll Shows Pro-Life Carly Fiorina Behind Pro-Abortion Boxer

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Oct 27, 2010   |   4:07PM   |   Sacramento, CA

Polling data in the California Senate race shows pro-life candidate Carly Fiorina still behind in her bid to upset pro-abortion Sen. Barbara Boxer.
Last week, it appeared Fiorina was coming back in the polls and the margin between the two candidates was collapsing. But the heavy television advertising campaign Boxer is funding and Fiorina’s recent hospitalization have made it so she is falling back.

Survey USA’s poll today shows Fiorina down five percent to Boxer, on a 45-40 percentage point margin. The poll shows a striking difference between California voters with a home telephone and those that use cell phones only.

“For US Senator, incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer and Republican challenger Carly Fiorina are even today among voters interviewed on their home telephones, but when voters without home phones, interviewed on their cell phones, are combined, Boxer tops Fiorina 45% to 40%,” the firm noted.

Boxer had a 17-point lead among cell-phone only voters, but the numbers produced strange results with 22 percent of Californians saying they are undecided.

Ed Morrissey of the conservative Hot Air blog makes the case Fiorina can still pull out a victory.

“Given Boxer’s high profile in the state and the lateness of the hour, so to speak, those undecideds could break hard away from the incumbent in this cycle.  Fiorina wins seniors and thirty-somethings by pluralities, while Boxer wins the other age demographics by majorities,’ he says. “It’s going to take a big investment to get Fiorina across the finish line.”

He pointed to a Politico report indicating the National Republican Senatorial Committee believes Fiorina can win, as it poured $3 million in new money into advertising to support her.

The NRSC was already in for $4.8 million in coordinated spending and the $8 million represents its largest investment for any Republican Senate candidate.

Morrissey says the race is a key if pro-life advocates want to unseat pro-abortion leadership in the Senate.

“The GOP has to win this seat in order to win control of the Senate, but there’s more to it than that,” he says. “With the exception of Harry Reid in Nevada, there isn’t another incumbent Senator that Republicans would like to retire more than Boxer.”

“They also are still within range of a victory in California.  As long as they’re not neglecting the winnable races in Washington and Colorado, this isn’t a sucker bet at all but an effort to force Democrats to spend money defending what they thought was a safe seat,” he concludes.

Boxer has been playing on a statement Fiorina made in January that she would “absolutely vote to overturn Roe v. Wade if the opportunity presented itself” which Boxer and her campaign have twisted to make it appear Fiorina supports criminalizing women.

“It means that women and doctors could be put in jail in any state of the union.That is the fact,” Boxer said about the statement, according to the NPR debate. “Roe v. Wade, I believe, is a decision that brings us all together.”

Fiorina sought to highlight Boxer’s pro-abortion record during her tenure in Washington, especially her consistent support for taxpayer funding of abortions.

Fiorina called Boxer an “extremist” for supporting the use of taxpayers’ money to pay for abortions “any time, anywhere for any reason.”

“I think this is typical, typical politics. When people want to talk about the issues that matter most to them: Where is my job? Why is government debt out of control? Barbara Boxer always punts to the divisive issue of abortion to try and change the subject,” Fiorina said.

Boxer told the audience listening to the debate that she supports the Hyde Amendment, saying “At this point, it’s a compromise.”

However, not only did Boxer vote against the Senate version of the Hyde Amendment when lawmakers attempted to add it to the ObamaCare national health care bill, but she made the motion to kill it.