Posted on 04/17/2014 2:59:18 AM PDT by Morgana
AUSTIN, TX, April 16, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A new survey by a liberal polling firm is bad news for Wendy Davis, the Democratic would-be governor of Texas who rose to national prominence after filibustering a bill to restrict abortions in the state.
Although Davis promotes herself proudly as a candidate who cares about “women’s issues” – a euphemism for legalized abortion-on-demand, or as the Davis team describes it, “expanding access to women’s health care” – it seems women in Texas aren’t interested in what she’s selling. According to Public Policy Polling, 46 percent of Texas women view Davis “unfavorably,” and she trails behind Republican competitor Greg Abbott by nearly ten points among women, with 11 percent of women still undecided.
“Women get exhausted with women candidates who say they are pro-woman and then run on issues that real women don’t say are most important to them,” said Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway in an interview with The Daily Caller. Conway argued that Davis’ unpopularity within her own sex is a sign that the Democrats’ “war on women” messaging has failed.
Public Policy Polling president Dean Debnam blamed Davis’ poor showing partially on the popularity of pro-life Republican Gov. Rick Perry. “Rick Perry has a positive approval rating, with 48 percent of voters approving of him to 44 percent who disapprove,” Debman said. “Perry’s net approval has improved 18 points from where it was two years ago,” he added.
During those two years, Perry has pushed for the passage of some of the most pro-life legislation in the nation, including the bill that launched Davis to fame.
Davis became a national hero to abortion advocates after filibustering Perry’s proposal to ban abortions after 20 weeks, tighten safety restrictions at abortion facilities to match those of other surgical centers, and mandate that medical abortions follow the FDA-approved method for administering RU-486. But Davis’ filibuster was only a temporary setback for the Gov. Perry, who immediately called another special session to ensure the bill’s passage.
Another bold Perry move was to refuse federal dollars for Texas’ Medicaid program so that the state could defund Planned Parenthood without interference from the pro-abortion Obama administration. The governor recently accepted a Lifetime Achievement Award from Texas Right to Life for his efforts to curtail abortion in the state, and told the audience at the awards ceremony he believes pro-life activists can build a “world without abortion.”
The seeming popularity of Perry’s pro-life views appear to have had an impact on the way Davis presents herself. In a matter of months, the Democrat has gone from calling abortion “sacred ground” and a guarantor of “liberty, the freedom to choose what your future will hold,” to calling herself “pro-life” and keeping her campaign website and interviews free of any mention of abortion.
“Ms. Davis is out of touch with the majority of women,” Maureen Ferguson, senior policy adviser with The Catholic Association told LifeSiteNews shortly after Davis’ filibuster last year. She pointed to a Washington Post-ABC poll showing that 60 percent of women support a 20-week ban on abortion like the one she filibustered as evidence that Davis’s outspokenness on the abortion issue may have actually harmed her standing among women.
I'll bet some great campaign ads could be made with side-by-side screen shots of her website as her presentation 'evolves'.
There. Fixed it.
Pro-life candidates could really hammer those like Davis:
"Your local beauty salon operates under stricter standards than those that regulate the abortion industry. And pro-abortion candidate Davis wants to keep it that way!"
And so on. If pro-life candidates would be bold and stick to the facts despite liberal whining, I think they could win easily.
This article was about the same poll. Very good news for Republicans in the Intenals, even for hawks on Amnesty:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3144979/posts
“The seeming popularity of Perry’s pro-life views appear to have had an impact on the way Davis presents herself. In a matter of months, the Democrat has gone from calling abortion “sacred ground” and a guarantor of “liberty, the freedom to choose what your future will hold,” to calling herself “pro-life” and keeping her campaign website and interviews free of any mention of abortion. “
LOL!! It seems that bringing a set of “Harvard Law School Values” to Texas doesn’t always work here. Nice that she learned that the hard way.
Good news. We need as many scumbag politicians removed as possible and real peope that are non-lawyers put in their place. No more silver spoon from birth politicians. They have no place making legislation that impacts people in ways that do not affect them too.
My guess is that she captured the imagination of people( well, liberal people) outside of Texas more than she did IN Texas. So unless these outsiders send a lot of money, this won’t do her much good.
I think that the revelations about all the distortions about her past have probably even turned off people who once voted for her. I dont remember what district shes from in Texas. Voters( I should hope) aren’t amused by stuff like that.
So while I wouldn’t underestimate the importance of the abortion issue, I think there are some other factors.
It could be that her popularity was something mostly hyped up by the media in the first place—she’s young, photogenic, had a good feminist personal story(it was thought).
She’s from Fort Worth. And she’s 50, 51, next month. Not as young as I thought.
Yea, that’s pretty much it. She was a darling to libs in the Northeast and California, but never connected with Texans. They can send her all the money they want, but she still has to get votes.
The dumping her kids (including one from an earlier marriage) off on her ex husband (only after running him out of money) to go play the field has crippled her.
Texas has too many kids who grew up in blended families while the irresponsible parent flitted from one sexual dalliance to the next for that to play well. People see their sh!thead parent or inlaw in her, and know all the empty headed narcissism that goes with that lifestyle.
Surely the Democrats in Texas can find some far-left-wing judge who will let them swap her out for another candidate, or postpone the election.
“Free Abortions for All” surely does not rank amongst the top 300 political concerns of Texans of either gender, aside from some hardened whacko activists.
I thought Republicans were AGAINST women.
May be correct, but we Texans despise people like her. She barely won in her district last time.
Wendy, Wendy what went wrong
Oh so wrong...
It’s just as likely she’s fading because she increasingly appears as a self-centered twit as for her abortion stance.
But, but...Reproductive rights! Choice! Women's health! Justice for uteri! War on women!...Or something.
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