Republican Voters Trust Mike Huckabee, John McCain to Handle Abortion

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Jan 14, 2008   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Republican Voters Trust Mike Huckabee, John McCain to Handle Abortion Email this article
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 14,
2008

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — A new Washington Post poll finds Republican voters trust Mike Huckabee and John McCain to best handle abortion issues as president. However, there is such a diverse opinion among voters on the GOP presidential candidates and abortion that none of the candidates come close to a strong plurality vote.

Some 22 percent of Republican voters nationally say Mike Huckabee is the best candidate on abortion issues.

Looking at the rest of the field, 20 percent of Republicans say John McCain is the best candidate on abortion, 15 percent say Mitt Romney and only 14 percent say pro-abortion candidate Rudy Giuliani. Fred Thompson is named by nine percent of GOP voters.

Another 12 percent don’t know who would do the best job on abortion, four percent say none of them, three percent name Ron Paul, one percent say Duncan Hunter and one percent say all of the candidates would handle abortion equally well.

The closeness of the poll reflects the closeness of the primary race, where Huckabee, Romney and McCain have each won one of the three votes to this point. McCain and Romney are in a tight race in Michigan and Republican voters are split in South Carolina and Florida.

It also reflects the diversity of the endorsements from pro-life groups and leaders as each of the top candidates have the backing of a top pro-life group, advocate or elected official.

The Post asked the same question about abortion and the GOP candidates in early December and the results have changed little since then.

Huckabee had the lead in the December abortion poll at 17 percent and has gained six points since then. Romney, second at 16 percent in December, lost one point while McCain, second now at 20 percent, gained 9 points.

Giuliani dropped one percent, Thompson dropped three percent, and the percentage of those who are undecided dropped by eight percent.