Poll Shows Abortion Voters Gave President Bush Twelve Percent Advantage
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
November 8, 2004
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — A post-election poll of voters shows that a majority of Americans are pro-life and the abortion issue gave pro-life candidates such as President Bush a twelve percent advantage.
Some 42 percent of voters said that the issue of abortion affected the way they voted in last week’s election.
Those voters favored pro-life candidates by nearly a two-one margin with 25 percent of all voters saying they voted for pro-life candidates who oppose abortion and only 13 percent of all voters saying they backed candidates that favor abortion.
That twelve percent margin in favor of pro-life candidates no doubt helped the president win re-election in several battleground states.
"You’ll note that the margin of victory of the Bush-Cheney ticket in a number of states, including Florida and Ohio, was less than 4 percent," said David O’Steen, executive director of National Right to Life.
Highlighting the increasing importance of moral issues like abortion in the 2004 presidential election, 34 percent of voters said abortion has always been a motivating factor impacting how they cast their votes. About 9 percent said abortion made an impact on their vote for the first time this election year.
Thinking about their own position on abortion, 55 percent said they took a pro-life position and only 40 percent took one of three positions in favor of legal abortions.
Among the pro-life respondents, 10 percent said abortion should never be legal, 16 percent said it should be legal only in the very rare instances where the life of the mother is in danger, and 29 percent said all abortions should be illegal except those rare instances of protecting the life of the mother or in cases of rape or incest.
Looking at the pro-abortion people surveyed, 25 percent say abortion should be legal for any reason within the first three months of pregnancy, only 6 percent said abortion should be legal for any reason within the first six months, and just 9 percent said abortion should always be legal at any time during pregnancy.
Five percent of respondents said they didn’t know their position on abortion or refused to answer.
Voters were also asked about a new piece of legislation that requires abortion businesses to give women information about the pain their unborn child will feel during an abortion.
Some 75 percent of those surveyed favor the idea while just 18 percent oppose it.
A whopping 51 percent strongly favored the idea while 24 percent somewhat favor it. Just 7 percent oppose it somewhat and only 11 percent strongly oppose it.
The poll was conducted by Wirthlin Worldwide last week and surveyed 1,002 voters.
