This week Politico released the results of a poll of likely voters in competitive states and congressional districts. The results of their questions about abortion were interesting.
Nineteen percent stated that they favored abortion on demand while only 11 percent favored banning abortion in all circumstances. The remainder favored two other categories where abortion would remain legal with some limits in place. These results were consistent with a body of survey data on abortion. Incremental pro-life laws enjoy broad support, but strong majorities think abortion should be legal in hard-case circumstances.
However, Politico’s analysis of this survey question was misleading. In their Monday article, Politico took the two most permissive categories — right to an abortion and right to an abortion with a few exceptions — and said that these positions were representative of the Democratic party’s stance on the issue. This is shocking news to anyone who follows pro-life politics at the national level. Of the four positions listed in the survey, abortion on demand most accurately represents the Democratic party’ position at the federal level.
Indeed, when incremental pro-life laws are introduced in the House or Senate, they typically receive the support of few Democratic elected officials. For instance, no Senate Democrat is currently co-sponsoring the 20-week abortion ban and the only Democrat to publicly announce he will vote in favor of the bill is Senator Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.). Less than a third of House and Senate Democrats voted in favor of the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act (CIANA) in 2006, and less than a third of Senate Democrats voted in favor of the partial-birth-abortion ban in 2003.
Politico deserves credit for commissioning a poll that allowed respondents to express their views on abortion in a nuanced manner. That said they, like countless other media outlets, work overtime to present the Democratic party’s position on abortion as both popular and mainstream.
LifeNews.com Note: Dr. Michael New is a political science professor at the University of Michigan–Dearborn and holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University. He is a fellow at Witherspoon Institute in Princeton, New Jersey.
