Subscribe to IFRL

Contact the Media

GoodSearch cause banner


Option Line - 24 hour Pregnancy Hotline

Illinois Federation

For Right to Life

Daily News

As more Americans express frustration about the current health care system, a growing number of voters are hopeful the incoming president will salvage it. Despite all the campaign talk of government-run universal health care, a new poll commissioned by FRC shows that a majority of voters would oppose candidates whose plan includes universal abortion coverage at taxpayer expense. In partnership with Wilson Research Strategies, FRC surveyed 800 likely voters. Although the respondents were largely Democrats (37%) or Independents (34%), a majority of all voters (56%) signaled that they would be "less likely" to vote for a presidential hopeful "if the candidate proposed a national health care plan with universal coverage of abortion at taxpayer expense." Forty-five percent of all respondents intensely opposed the idea, indicating that they would be "much less likely" to vote in favor of a candidate whose plan forced taxpayers to pay for abortion, compared to just 19% who would be "much more likely" to endorse such a candidate. The undesirability of taxpayer-funded abortion coverage crossed nearly every demographic control, including sex, race, region, party, and age.

 

Interestingly, Republicans and Independents align in their opposition to candidates who support universal coverage of abortion at taxpayer expense. Independent voters of all ages and both sexes would be less likely to vote for a candidate who proposed such a plan.

 

Although a majority of Democrats would support a candidate that proposed a national health care plan with universal coverage of abortion at taxpayer expense, the support is soft at best (51%).

 

Resistance to abortion coverage is consistent among all age groups and both sexes. Women aged 55 or older are the most opposed to such coverage (59% are less likely to vote for a candidate endorsing it), men of all ages follow in opposition (57% less likely to vote for a candidate endorsing it), and the majority (51%) of women aged 18-54 are less likely to support such candidates.

 

There is only one region in the United States--New England--where residents are "more likely" to vote for a candidate who endorses universal coverage of abortion at taxpayer expense.

 

There is widespread disapproval of candidates who propose universal coverage of abortion among all races (56% of Hispanics, 56% of whites, 51% of blacks, and 69% of other ethnicities).

 

Obviously, candidates who insist on pushing their abortion agenda through health care are not appealing to a broad audience. As this poll demonstrates, if they hope to capture the support of "independents," a bloc critical to any campaign's success, they would be wise to adjust their policies to reflect the pro-life priorities of American voters.

 

Contact: Tony Perkins

Source: Family Research Council

Monday, January 28, 2008

Deep Disapproval of Universal Coverage of Abortion