Polls: John McCain Fares Better With Voters on Abortion Than Barack Obama
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
September 9, 2008
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — New polling data from three states shows John McCain faring better on the abortion issue with voters than his pro-abortion rival. The polls reveal McCain is picking up a higher share of the pro-life vote than Obama is getting of the pro-abortion vote and he is losing fewer voters on the issue than Obama.
The Survey USA polls cover Virginia, Washington and Oklahoma.
In Virginia, McCain pulls in 73 percent of the support from pro-life voters compared to 24 percent for Obama while Obama earns a lower 65 percent of the vote from abortion advocates compared with 30 percent for McCain.
In Washington, McCain has 74 percent of pro-life voters behind him with Obama getting just 19 percent. Of pro-abortion voters, Obama has the backing of 69 percent compared with 26 percent for McCain.
Looking at Oklahoma, the disparity is more pronounced.
About 80 percent of those polled who are pro-life are in the McCain camp compare with just 18 percent for Obama. On the pro-abortion side, 52 percent support Obama and 44 percent favor McCain.
The polling data squares up with other surveys showing McCain is doing a better job shoring up the Republican base than Obama is corralling Democrats in his corner.
Although partisan breakdowns don’t mirror the abortion split, they help validate the data from the Survey USA polls because polls typically find two-thirds of Republicans are pro-life while two-thirds of Democrats are pro-abortion.
Rasmussen Reports surveyed five key battleground states this week and found, in four of them, McCain does a better job with his (pro-life) base than Obama does with his (pro-abortion) base.
In Florida, McCain has the backing of 86 Republicans compared to Obama who has just 79 percent of Democrats in his corner. In Ohio, McCain gets 88 percent of the GOP vote to 78 percent of the Democratic vote for Obama.
In Pennsylvania, McCain gets 83 percent of his base to 74 percent for Obama and, in Virginia, McCain gets 90 percent to 88 percent for Obama.
Colorado is the only state where there is parity as McCain has the backing of 86 percent of Republicans compared to Obama, who takes in 87 percent of the Democratic vote.
The survey results show the pro-life movement has apparently been successful in making it clear that McCain is the candidate who is pro-life on abortion while Obama is the candidate who supports unlimited abortions throughout pregnancy paid for at taxpayer expense.
The ability of either candidate to hold his base will likely determine the outcome of the election.
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