Polls: Pro-Life vs. Pro-Abortion Control of Congress Still Undetermined 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
November 6, 2006
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — The final round of polls in the 2006 elections will make pro-life advocates stay glued to their televisions Tuesday night wondering if they will retain control of Congress. At worst, they will lose control of both the House and Senate, giving Planned Parenthood and NARAL a field day to promote abortion.
A victory in either chamber — but especially both — will likely make it so pro-life advocates will have a difficult time stopping the advance of abortion, human cloning and embryonic stem cell research in Congress.
With Democratic congressional leaders backing abortion and Republican leaders pro-life, pro-life groups are pinning their hopes on keeping control of at least one chamber.
On the Senate side, races in Maryland, Missouri, Montana and Virginia. The GOP must win at least one of those seats in order to keep control of the Senate on a 50-50 split.
In Maryland, pro-life candidate Michael Steele hasn’t had a lead in the race since mid September by some last-minute endorsements by black Democratic leaders may help push him over the top against pro-abortion candidate Ben Cardin. One of the last two polls showed the race tied and Steele has erased Cardin’s 11-12 percent lead from just two weeks ago.
Missouri voters have seen a seesaw battle between pro-life Sen. Jim Talent and abortion advocate Claire McCaskill. However, McCaskill has pulled out to a slight lead in the last five polls, ahead anywhere from 1-4 percent. Talent last led two weeks ago and hasn’t gone over 50 percent during the entire campaign — a bad sign for incumbents.
Many political observers wrote off pro-life Sen. Conrad Burns in October when polls showed him behind by double digits, but he closed the gap to just in the last survey and Burns has a history of eking out wins in close elections. But, he hasn’t led since April and pro-life advocates shouldn’t count on a victory if they lose in the other three of these four key matchups.
In a race he shouldn’t be losing, according to most pundits, Virginia pro-life Sen. George Allen gave up a long lead in this campaign and possibly his shot at the presidency in 2008. He and pro-abortion candidate Jim Webb are tied with an average of 46.3 percent in the six most recent polls. The last three showed Webb up one, Allen ahead by three and the race tied. Every vote will count and this one could go into the late hours.
Republicans must win one of those four races, or have pro-abortion GOP candidates win in Rhode Island or New Jersey, to keep the Senate.
The rest of the top contests appear to be locked up by the current leaders.
Arizona pro-life Sen. Jon Kyl has solidified his lead, and pro-life candidate Bob Corker has risen to a strong average of a seven point lead over the most recent polls.
Pro-life candidates in Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Pennsylvania appear unlikely to be able to win their respective races.
Looking at races for the House, virtually every political observers predicts a Democratic takeover.
Democrats need to pick up 15 seats to gain control of the House and currently 48 Republican seats are in play. Some 13 seats are leaning towards the Democratic candidate, 13 are rated a toss-up and some 22 seats show the Republican with a slight advantage. Only 6 Democratic seats are in play and only two are considered a tossup.
Giving each side the seats in which they are favored and splitting the toss-ups, Democrats appear headed towards a gain of about 20 seats, giving them control of Congress.
Finally, in top gubernatorial races, pro-life advocates appear headed to victory in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Texas. In Florida, Charlie Crist, who leans pro-life, is expected to win as well.
Pro-life candidates are in close races in Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, though they are behind in the polls.
In all of the other top races of governor, pro-life candidates appear unlikely to prevail.
