Commentary by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
A new poll showing that 80 percent of voters in key states in the upcoming midterm election say they want abortion restricted – but the media spun the story “180 degrees” to make it look like voters said the exact opposite.
Writing for Newsbusters, Jill Stanek confronts the liberal website Politico for distorting its own poll results just to make it appear as though the nation supports abortions.
This was how the voters were questioned, and how they answered the actual poll:
“Do you support . . .
• “The right to abortion with no restrictions” (19%)
• “The right to abortion with some restrictions, such as parental notification for minors and a cut-off on late term abortions” (35%)
• “A nearly total ban on abortion with exceptions for victims of rape, and incest, and when the mother’s life is in danger” (34%)
• “A ban on abortion in all circumstances” (11%)
• “Decline to answer” (1%)
When asked how important the issue of abortion will be to them in the upcoming election, a whopping 70 percent said either very or somewhat important with only 29 percent saying it was not important at all to them.
It’s obvious from the above numbers that in states where key House and Senate races will be taking place in November, pro-abortion lawmakers are in trouble. First, because so many people consider it to be an important issue and second because nearly 80 percent want restrictions on abortion – the same kind that pro-abortion lawmakers vehemently oppose in their phony “war on women”.
However, this is how Politico reported on the same poll:
“When it comes to abortion rights, however, midterm voters are more aligned with Democrats than with Republicans: 54 percent say they support the right to an abortion either with no restrictions (19 percent) or some restrictions (35 percent) . . . . Forty-five percent said there should be either a near-total abortion ban with some exceptions (34 percent) or a total ban on the procedure (11 percent).”
The media spin machine was spinning at the speed of light when it came up with that whopper!
“In actuality, pro-life Republicans have the backing of 80 percent of Americans who vote (i.e., who matter), 35 percent of whom support such common sense and compassionate measures as parental notification and a 20-week abortion ban, both of which Democrats largely oppose,” Stanek points out.
“Another 34 percent of likely voters would take that a big step further and support ‘[a] nearly total ban on abortion,’ and 11 percent would support making abortion illegal, period.”
Compare that to the mere 19 percent who share the Democrats’ position on abortion – abortion on demand without restrictions (and paid for, if possible, by the taxpayers).
The bottom line is that the pro-abortion crowd can spin the numbers any which way they want but the people who will be showing up to vote in November are overwhelmingly in favor of less, rather than more, access to abortion.
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