Poll: Rudy Giuliani Loses Republican Voters Over Abortion Support

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Feb 28, 2007   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Poll: Rudy Giuliani Loses Republican Voters Over Abortion Support Email this article
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 28
, 2007

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — A new poll finds that Republican voters are much less likely to vote for Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, because of his stance in favor of abortion. The new poll also found that half of GOP voters said there is no chance they would support Giuliani because of his pro-abortion views.

The Washington Post and ABC News teamed up for a survey of 1082 adults from February 22-25.

It told GOP respondents that Giuliani "has been a supporter of legal abortion" and asked them whether that would make them more likely or less likely to vote for him for the Republican nomination.

Only 10 percent said they would be more likely to back Giuliani for the GOP nod because of his pro-abortion views while a large 46 percent said they would be less likely.

Another 43 percent said it wouldn’t make a difference.

The survey also asked that "Given his position on abortion," is there a chance the respondent would vote for Giuliani for the Republican nomination.

GOP voters were split down the middle with 49 percent saying yes and 49 percent saying no.

The poll found that 44 percent of Republicans would vote for Giuliani if the nomination vote was held today while 21 percent support John McCain, 15 percent back Newt Gingrich, who is not running, and 4 percent favor Mitt Romney.

However, other polls show most Republicans are not aware of Giuliani’s pro-abortion position and the new survey finds most of them wouldn’t support the former mayor knowing he’s pro-abortion.

A Fox News poll in the middle of February found that only 42 percent of GOP voters correctly identified Giuliani as pro-abortion. Some 21 percent say he’s pro-life and another 36 percent don’t know where he stands.

The survey also showed 46 percent of GOP voters are less likely to support a pro-abortion candidate — with 36% a lot less likely and 10 percent somewhat less likely. Only 22 percent are more likely to support an abortion advocate.

That means nearly half of the people who will make the decision at the ballot box in early 2008 as to who will represent the Republican Party in the next election will be less inclined to back Giuliani and about 60 percent of GOP voters have yet to find out that he supports abortion.

Those numbers could be why Giuliani has been soft-peddling his pro-abortion stance in recent media interviews.