Abortion Still Important Issue for Voters, Obama and McCain Split on Judges

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Jun 16, 2008   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Poll: Abortion Still Important Issue for Voters, Obama and McCain Split on Judges

RSS Newsfeed Email article
Add to My Yahoo! Printer friendly

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
June 16
, 2008

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — A new survey of American voters from ABC News and the Washington Post finds abortion is still an important issue for American voters. The poll also found voters are split on whether Barack Obama or John McCain would be better to handle judicial appointments to the Supreme Court.

The survey quizzed voters on the single most important issue in terms of who they would considering supporting in the November presidential election.

While abortion came in seventh place, with two percent of voters naming it as the number one issue, abortion came in ahead of other top political topics.

Voters named abortion as more important than immigration, the environment, gun control, the budget deficit, social security, global warming, and the situation in Iran.

A poll earlier this month of mostly younger voters found abortion the fourth most important political issue in the upcoming presidential election.

Conducted at the end of May, more than 20,000 Virgin Mobile USA customers responded to a survey with several questions about the upcoming presidential election.

Though some political pundits suggest abortion is at the back of the pack of the list of priorities for most voters, the Virgin Mobile poll found it was fourth most important — named by five percent of the participants.

Abortion came in as more important in the minds of younger voters than crime, education, energy, immigration, the environment, and race.

Meanwhile, the ABC News-Post poll asked voters, "Regardless of who you may support, who do you trust more to handle appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court?"

The issue is key for pro-life advocates because the next Supreme Court justice or subsequent picks could determine whether the Roe v. Wade case that allowed unlimited abortions stays on the books or if states can again have a chance to make abortion laws.

The survey found voters split and within the margin of error as 45 percent said they trust Obama and 43 percent say they are confident having McCain name the next high court judges.