Donald Trump is an anomalous political figure, a force of nature who is truly one of one.
He doesn’t, to put it mildly, march in lockstep with establishment positions of either the left or the right. In a time of increased political despair, it makes sense that so many Americans gravitate towards him.
As with so many other issues, Trump has the finger on the pulse of everyday Americans when it comes to abortion, more so than the political left or right.
In a recent statement, Trump said that abortion extremists “support abortions up to and even beyond the ninth month. The concept of having an abortion in later months and even execution after birth . . . is unacceptable and almost everyone agrees with that.”
He’s correct!
A new national McLaughlin/Priests for Life poll proves exactly that.
A clear majority of respondents — 61% — would vote for a political candidate who is pro-life but favors certain exceptions.
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On the other hand, only 24% of respondents would cast their vote for a candidate who supports abortion with no restrictions whatsoever up to the moment of birth, as well as taxpayer funded abortion.
According to the survey, nearly half of voters (46%) would support a candidate who wants to protect babies as soon as their heartbeat is detected.
Only 27% would support a candidate who is in favor of unrestricted abortions up to the moment of birth.
About three-quarters of voters say they favor abortion — but only with restrictions.
Even a plurality of anti-abortion voters wants to see time limits in place (31% versus 21% who support abortion at any time).
Of Democrats, 40% believe abortion should be banned no later than the first trimester.
Abortion will be a highly significant and charged issue in the upcoming general election. It is the first Presidential election since the historic 2022 Dobbs decision, (Dobbs vs. Jackson Womens Health Organizaton, 597 U.S. 215 (2022), which marked a pivotal turn from the era of Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973).
Dobbs returned the issue of abortion back to where it belongs: We the People, rather than an unelected judiciary.
Trump’s recent statement was consonant with the ruling, “My view is now that we have abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine by vote or legislation or perhaps both. And whatever they decide must be the law of the land — in this case, the law of the state.”
Though there remains a federal role for abortion policy, most people in our poll prefer it be dealt with at the local level.
The survey demonstrates that there is widespread antipathy not only toward late term abortions, but taxpayer funded abortions, lack of parental notification, abortion on demand, and forcing medical professionals who oppose abortion for moral and religious reasons to support or perform abortions, as well.
That is because, as the survey also makes evident, there is a prodigious culture of life in the United States. There is a deeply rooted, bedrock desire for policies that are life-affirming in the widest sense: ones that are pro-parent, pro-woman, pro-baby, pro-child, pro-family, and pro-community.
This is where Trump gets it right and where others get it wrong.
The majority of survey respondents said it is good when a woman with an unplanned pregnancy decides to keep her baby; 85% support financial, medical, and
emotional assistance for women with unplanned pregnancies and young mothers; 82% support reduced legal and financial barriers to adoption and foster care; and 77% support faith-based organizations providing social services to pregnant women and young mothers.
This widespread support of a culture of life — in the broadest sense — is paired with profound dejection about our country’s current political landscape.
The polling found that voters across the political spectrum are overwhelmingly dissatisfied with the direction of the United States and its leadership.
A whopping 71% of American voters believe the country is on the wrong track.
Predictably, during a Democratic administration, Republican and pro-life voters feel this way, to the tune of 90% and 80%, respectively.
But what may be surprising is that even 52% of Democrats and 66% of pro-abortion voters feel similarly.
More than three-quarters (77%) of independent, pro-abortion women believe the country is heading in the wrong direction.
Tapping into a culture of life would go a long way to addressing the existential angst and aimless ennui that too many Americans are experiencing.
The abortion debate is a clash of absolutes and is nowhere close to being resolved.
But a good start may be to realize that nearly two-thirds of Americans are more anti-abortion than the mainstream position of the Democratic Party’s leadership.
It has come to embrace abortion on demand.
Donald Trump, who is in tune with everyday Americans, understands this reality.
He is not only perceptive; he is correct.
Americans want less abortion, not more.
And this election will bring one or the other.
LifeNews.com Note: Frank Pavone is the national director for Priests for Life.
