Colorado Amendment 48 for Personhood on Abortion Trails Big in New State Poll
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 28, 2008
Denver, CO (LifeNews.com) — A new poll of Colorado voters finds Amendment 48, the measure to define unborn children as persons from the moment of conception under state law, trailing by a large margin. A new Rocky Mountain News/CBS4 survey finds the measure, which could prohibit abortions, losing 68 to 27 percent.
Of the 68 percent of Colorado voters who say they oppose the measure, a strong 61 percent say they will "definitely" oppose the amendment.
Pollster Lori Weigel told the newspaper that the polling data makes it appear there is little hope for Amendment 48 to win next week.
"Once a ballot measure falls under 50 percent support, it is very difficult to turn around that dynamic," Weigel said. "For this ballot measure, this is not a hole to dig yourself out of, it’s a chasm."
Kristi Burton, the young woman who spearheaded the efforts to get the personhood measure on the ballot — by turning in a large group of 130,000 petitions to do so — told the News she thinks the poll isn’t a reflection of what will happen on Election Day.
"I’ve heard different information from different people involved in past efforts," she said. "Sometimes, polls don’t accurately represent what the numbers will be on Election Day. That’s when we’ll learn what the truth really is."
According to the survey, 61 percent of Colorado voters said they would definitely oppose Amendment 48 and another 7 percent said they would probably do so. Another 22 percent said they would definitely vote for it and 5 percent said they were likely supporters.
Five percent of Coloradoans are undecided.
The poll was conducted by Public Opinion Strategies, a Republican polling firm, and it surveyed 500 registered voters from October 21-23. There is a 4.38 percentage margin of error.
Pro-life groups have been divided on the proposal, with some favoring it and others worrying about a negative impact on the efforts to overturn Roe v. Wade if it gets challenged in court and the Supreme Court strikes it down.
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