Ohio Poll: Majority Oppose Abortion, Tax-Funding, Say Abortions Hurt Women
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 7, 2009
Columbus, OH (LifeNews.com) — A new poll in Ohio shows a majority of the state’s residents oppose abortion and say that abortion causes problems for women. Sponsored by Ohio Right to Life, the poll is a part of the new Ohio Cultural Index the group will maintain to show how Ohio residents view pro-life and governmental issues.
Wenzel Strategies conducted the statewide survey June 23-26, 2009 with 824 registered voters and it has a 3.4 percent margin of error.
A total of 60 percent of Ohio voters said they were opposed to abortion with 47.9 percent saying they strongly opposed abortion. Just 26.7 percent of those polled said they favor legal abortions.
The results were strong across the board regardless of party, location or socioeconomic status.
The poll found 80 percent of Republicans oppose abortion compared with 54.7 percent of independents and 46.5 percent of Democrats. With some Ohio residents saying they are neutral, a plurality of independents and Democrats oppose abortion.
Some 59.5 percent of women oppose abortion as do 60.7 percent of men. Hispanics were much more likely to oppose abortion, white Ohio voters were opposed, but black Ohio voters supported abortion more than they opposed it.
Obama voters were less likely (46.6 percent) to oppose abortion than McCain voters (73 percent).
Voters in central and southeast Ohio were more likely to be supportive of abortion than those in the rest of the state. A majority of those in all age ranges opposed abortion while Ohio voters between 30-39 were less opposed than other groups.
"We now know a majority of Ohioans oppose abortion," Mike Gonidakis, executive director of Ohio Right to Life, told LifeNews.com.
"While those pushing radical agendas may find sympathetic ears in the halls of power, an informed pro-life community will be better able to rebuff these extreme public policy influences," he said.
The poll also examined where state residents stand on whether their tax dollars should be used to pay for abortions.
It found 64.2 percent of Ohio residents strongly oppose their tax money used to pay for abortions and another 5.7 percent somewhat disagreed with the practice. Just 16.4 percent of Ohioans agreed with taxpayer-funding of abortions and only 6.2 percent strongly agreed.
The poll also asked Ohio voters if abortion is more likely to have a positive or negative effect for women.
Some 53.8 percent said abortion would likely have a negative effect while just 16.9 percent said it would have a positive one. Men were more likely than women to say it would have a negative effect, though 51 percent of women said as much while only 16.6 percent of women said an abortion has a positive effect for women.
Related web sites:
Ohio Right to Life – https://www.ohiolife.org
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