Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new poll conducted by Fox News finds that almost half of all voters want to know where a candidate stands on the issue of abortion before casting their vote for or against him. The poll is the latest to show that abortion still has a significant impact for voters, despite media pronouncements to the contrary.

The new survey, released on Friday, finds 45 percent of Americans need to know a candidate's position on abortion before they vote, while 53 percent say they don't.

A candidate's position on abortion is more important for pro-life voters than those who back abortion.

Fox News found that 56 percent of those identifying themselves as pro-life want to know a candidate's abortion views while just 41 percent of those who back legal abortions do.

That reconfirms results from previous surveys showing pro-life voters are more engaged on the abortion issue than those who back abortion and the results give pro-life candidates a slight edge on the issue.

The Fox News survey also found out that 48 percent of women, 46 percent of Republicans and 51 percent of born-again Christians want to know where a candidate stands on abortion before voting.

John Gorman, the head of the polling firm Opinion Dynamics, which conducted the survey for Fox News, downplayed the results.

"It is interesting to note that even among pro-life voters only slightly more than half need to know," he said.

They survey also found that while media stories focus on immigration and ethics issues as top stories, abortion is just as important for voters when they named their list of top political issues.

The poll also found that pro-life voters were five times more likely to say that abortion is a key political issues compared with voters who call themselves "pro-choice."

According to the Fox News survey, a majority of Republicans oppose abortions in the overwhelmingly majority of circumstances.

Some 50 percent of those polled say they oppose legal abortions in cases when the "pregnancy is unwanted" and only 39 percent of voters say abortions should be legal in such cases.

Republicans were 67-22 percent pro-life according to the poll while Democrats back abortion in general on a 54-37 percent margin.

The poll also determined that many voters don't know when abortions are done. Despite opposing abortions in 98 percent of the cases, the voters labeled themselves "pro-choice" on abortion by a 48-37 percent margin.

Another 15 percent said their views were mixed or didn't know how to classify where they stand on abortion.

Opinion Dynamics Corporation contacted 900 registered voters for the poll from Oct. 23 to Oct. 24 and it has a three point margin of error.