Poll: Voters in Key States Oppose Candidates Who OKd Pro-Abortion Health Care

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Aug 6, 2010   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Poll: Voters in Key States Oppose Candidates Who OKd Pro-Abortion Health Care

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 6
, 2010

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — New polling data released today by the Susan B. Anthony List shows voters in key states and congressional districts oppose candidates voted for the pro-abortion health care bill. The poll puts some of the "pro-life" Democrats who supported the bill and its abortion funding in jeopardy.

The voter poll, taken in districts of Democrats who oppose abortion but voted for the pro-abortion health care bill, gauges November election implications for incumbents.

Conducted by the Polling Company firm, the survey found two-thirds of voters are less supportive of the ObamaCare law knowing that it will lead to taxpayer funding of abortion.

At least 74 percent of voters are still against taxpayer funding of abortion and more than 66 percent believe their representative was “wrong” to betray his or her pro-life principles and vote for the health care bill.

“For the Susan B. Anthony List, this election cycle has turned out to be dramatically different from the one in which we began. Members of Congress we thought were our allies have now become our top targets for defeat,” SBA List president Marjorie Dannenfelser told LifeNews.com.

“Before the health care vote, we conducted polling and launched a media tour in these Democrats’ districts in an effort to support the pro-life convictions of these Democrats. Then, they voted for the largest expansion of abortion since Roe v. Wade," she said. "This latest polling shows that five months of a long, hot summer have not burned off any voter intensity on the issue."

Looking at specific races the poll examined, the data shows pro-life former senator Dan Coats leading Indiana Senate candidate Rep. Brad Ellsworth, who says he is pro-life but voted for the pro-abortion health care bill, by a 50-35 percent margin.

The group also polled districts held by three other supposedly pro-life Democrats, Rep. Joe Donnelly of Indiana and freshman Reps. Steve Driehaus of Ohio and Kathy Dahlkemper of Pennsylvania.

Donnelly appears to be in good shape but Driehaus is trailing pro-life former Rep. Steve Chabot by 10 percent and Dahlkemper’s race is about even.

The polling found 43 percent of voters are less likely to re-elect Donnelly because of his vote for the pro-abortion health care bill, 47 percent less likely to re-elect Driehaus and Dahlkemper, and 49 percent less likely to support Ellsworth’s Senate bid.

The release of the polling data comes in advance of SBA’s -city “Votes Have Consequences” bus tour stopping in Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The tour will highlight the above lawmakers and also Marcy Kaptur of Ohio and Baron Hill of Indiana.

"Our Votes Have Consequences bus tour will ensure that voters understand exactly what their Members of Congress did to undermine their convictions and those of their pro-life constituents," Dannenfelser said.

Each tour stop will focus on showing voters that their representative voted in favor of taxpayer-funded abortion and betrayed their pro-life constituents, she said, and it will feature pro-life former Colorado congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave.

“We promised then that their vote would have consequences and that we would work hard to inform voters of their betrayal,” said Musgrave.

“For not one minute have we let up on that promise and next week we will take this message on the road directly to the voters in a 23-city bus tour. Votes have consequences and, for these pro-life betrayers, it will be a quick downhill slide to defeat in November," she said.

Related web sites:
Susan B. Anthony List – https://www.sba-list.org

 

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