After The Election, Pro-life Americans Find Themselves in the Minority

On May 23, 2012, Gallup released a poll that showed that people who identify themselves as ‘pro-choice’ was at a record low of 41%.  Additionally, Americans who described themselves as pro-life, at the time, constituted 50% of the population.  That nine point margin in America’s ongoing culture war has flipped.  Pro-choice Americans are now 54% of the population, compared to 38% who are pro-life, according to Rasmussen.  As Allahpundit of Hot Air posted on November 15, “elections have consequences.”  However, it begs the question, where did all the pro-lifers go?

For one thing, we’re a liberal democracy – a republic to be exact.  As such, governments are based on public opinion, and opinion is shiftable sand.  Therefore, there are no permanent victories in democracy.  Conservative commentator George Will has spoken about this ad nauseum, and aptly made the observation that Sen. Barry Goldwater, who lost in the ’64 presidential election, knew about this aspect in American society.  Hence, why people say Goldwater didn’t lose in 1964, it just took sixteen years to count all the votes.  Reagan’s win in 1980 was the reaffirmation of Goldwater’s conservative conscience.

However, it cannot be denied that some Republican senate candidates made rather irresponsible remarks about rape and abortion on the campaign trail, which hurt the pro-life movement.  Richard Mourdock in Indiana and Todd Akin in Missouri are the two names that comes up frequently in this discussion.  Without a doubt, they paid a heavy price for their poorly constructed narratives that moved those leaning towards the pro-life argument, towards the pro-choice camp.   Allahpundit reaffirms this claim, citing a CNN poll from last August showing that, “[Abortion was] nice and steady there in the mid-20s for ‘legal under any circumstances’ over the past five years — until suddenly, in August of this year, the number jumps. Why? Well, what else happened in August this year? Right: Todd Akin opened his yapper about “legitimate rape” and women’s supposed biological defense mechanisms against it and that was the beginning of the end for Republican chances to take back the Senate. How big a deal was it? Weeks later, the NYT poll was seeing more support for the idea that abortion should be “generally available” than it had in over 15 years.”

So, if some people, who are pro-life, are wondering why they lost popular support, they need only to look at some of the politicians selected to support their cause in Washington D.C.  We need to be smarter.

 

Matt Vespa

I'm a staunch Republican and a politics junkie who was recently the Executive Director for the Dauphin County Republican Committee in Harrisburg. Before that, I interned with the Republican Party of Pennsylvania in the summer of 2011 and Mary Pat Christie, First Lady of NJ, within the Office of the Governor of NJ in 2010. I was responsible for updating his personal contact list. My first political internship was with Tom Kean Jr's. U.S. Senate campaign in 2006.

Share
Published by
Matt Vespa

Recent Posts

DEI Is Being Expelled From Education One Lawsuit At A Time

The United States of America has been prescribed aggressive treatment by the Trump administration to…

7 hours ago

Donald Trump Strikes Houthi Rebels and Warns Iran: An Analysis

Background on the Houthi Rebels and Iran's Influence The Houthi rebels, officially known as Ansar…

8 hours ago

Democrat Violence Is the Fault of Media And DNC Leadership

The Democrat Party is the new BLM. The plethora of misinformation coming from the Media…

10 hours ago

Trump’s European Reset Is Reclaiming America’s Leadership

President Donald Trump is letting the world know that the days of American foreign policy…

10 hours ago

Kyrsten Sinema Is Having The Last Laugh On The Filibuster

Former Independent Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who was previously a Democrat, is having the last…

10 hours ago

CNN Poll Finds Democratic Party’s Approval Rating At Record Low

The Democratic Party has dropped to a new record low among Americans, reaching only a…

14 hours ago