Rudy Giuliani Continues Slide in Republican Polls After Abortion Flaps 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 23, 2007
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Rudy Giuliani is continuing his slide in the polls following an abortion flap two weeks ago in which he declared his support for taxpayer-funded abortions and promptly reversed his position a day later. A poll conducted by Fox News finds Giuliani sliding down four percentage points in their surveys since February.
In February’s poll, the former New York City mayor had 39 percent of the support of Republican voters but that dropped to 35 percent in the April 17-18 survey.
Arizona Sen. John McCain, who opposes abortion but supports embryonic stem cell research, has dropped as well. He’s slid from 19 percent in February to 16 percent in April.
The leading candidates have dropped because Republican voters are shifting to more conservative presidential candidates or others whose names have been bandied about as possible GOP nominees.
Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who recently changed his position on abortion, moved up from 6 percent in February to 10 percent in the April Fox News poll.
Meanwhile Newt Gingrich and Fred Thompson, who have not announced a bid, jumped from 7 percent to 9 percent and from not being in the poll to 8 percent, respectively.
Looking at other candidates, ex-Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson moved up from 2 to 4 percent, pro-life Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback stayed the same at two percent as did pro-life Rep. Duncan Hunter. Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas Gov. had one percent but no other candidates reached one percent in the poll.
Some 11 percent of Republicans were unsure.
Last week, Giuliani came under fire for telling pro-life advocates to get over the abortion issue.
"Our party has to get beyond issues like that," he told the Des Moines Register newspaper.
He also appeared to indicate that the Republican Party won’t gain supporters if it retains its pro-life position.
"Our party is going to grow, and we are going to win in 2008 if we are a party characterized by what we’re for, not if we’re a party that’s known for what we’re against," he said.
Those comments followed the flap on abortion funding.
