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"Pro-Choice" Americans at Record-Low 41%
Gallup.com ^ | May 23, 2012 | Lydia Saad

Posted on 05/23/2012 3:33:14 AM PDT by iowamark

The 41% of Americans who now identify themselves as "pro-choice" is down from 47% last July and is one percentage point below the previous record low in Gallup trends, recorded in May 2009. Fifty percent now call themselves "pro-life," one point shy of the record high, also from May 2009.

Gallup began asking Americans to define themselves as pro-choice or pro-life on abortion in 1995, and since then, identification with the labels has shifted from a wide lead for the pro-choice position in the mid-1990s, to a generally narrower lead for "pro-choice" -- from 1998 through 2008 -- to a close division between the two positions since 2009. However, in the last period, Gallup has found the pro-life position significantly ahead on two occasions, once in May 2009 and again today. It remains to be seen whether the pro-life spike found this month proves temporary, as it did in 2009, or is sustained for some period...

Since 2001, the majority of Republicans have consistently taken the pro-life position, but by a gradually increasing margin over "pro-choice." That gap expanded further this year, with the percentage of Republicans identifying as pro-life increasing to 72% from 68% last May, and those identifying as pro-choice dropping to 22% from 28%. Still, Republicans' current views are similar to those found in 2009.

The percentage of political independents identifying as pro-choice is 10 points lower today than in May 2011, while the percentage pro-life is up by six points. As a result, pro-lifers now outnumber pro-choicers among this important swing political group for only the second time since 2001, with the first occurring in 2009.

More broadly, since 2009, independents have been fairly closely divided between the two abortion positions, whereas for most of the 2001-2008 period, significantly more independents were pro-choice than pro-life...

(Excerpt) Read more at gallup.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: abortion; americans; elections; low; polls; prochoice; prolife; record
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To: comebacknewt

I am skeptical about this swing to “pro-life”. I think it is superficial lip service in many cases and not enough to stop a coed from aborting her own baby if one show shows up unexpectedly. When college kids are out there en masse burning down Planned Parenthood facilities and running the butchers out of town then I’ll believe it.


21 posted on 05/23/2012 1:25:25 PM PDT by steve86 (Acerbic by nature not nurture TM)
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To: nhwingut

You’re right about anti-abortion. The irony is that they don’t want to be called pro-abortion. Is pro-abortion not the opposite of anti-abortion? However, I’ve noticed they have another one I’ve been seeing lately. They’ve been calling us “abortion foes.” I guess they think that makes us sound more nefarious, but what they don’t realize is, we’re proud to be the foes of such a heinous practice.


22 posted on 05/23/2012 1:57:58 PM PDT by Pinkbell (Woo hoo! Another moderate candidate! Thanks GOP and voters!)
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To: iowamark

Libs have become so confident in their position that they are out there calling unborn children “parasites”, in public forums.
That’s gotta be an eye-opener for people. An attention grabber to the young moms and dads who thought it was cool/enlightened to be progressive.


23 posted on 05/23/2012 3:33:10 PM PDT by APatientMan (Pick a side)
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A good question to ask folks is, “Are you comfortable with the fact we abort over one million healthy fetuses each year in the United States?”

All of a sudden, people are confronted with something they find very disturbing. Very few people see this as something morally neutral.

No matter who they are, they come away thinking it would be a good thing if we could find a way to get that number as close as possible to zero.

Of course some will still fail to see the issue clearly, and others will balk at the idea of just how we achieve that. None the less, the thought process is germinated and most folks will come around in time.

For some folks who will still miss the point, it is likely that they will perk up when you point out that the number of Blacks in our nation have been disproportionately reduced through abortion. This racial element, will at the least create a conflict within them that they’ll have to come to terms with.

This is a non-judgmental non-confrontational way to address the issue with most people. It won’t be seen as insulting, or unfair to women. It just touches on the idea that in an ideal setting, it would be desirable to have far fewer abortions take place.


24 posted on 05/23/2012 3:33:33 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Okay, now lets see if the RNC, Rove, and Card can get him elected without their core base. Game on!)
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To: wagglebee; little jeremiah

pro-life ping


25 posted on 05/23/2012 4:08:44 PM PDT by metmom (For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore & do not submit again to a yoke of slavery)
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26 posted on 05/23/2012 5:23:06 PM PDT by RedMDer (https://support.woundedwarriorproject.org/default.aspx?tsid=93)
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To: Friendofgeorge

You’re absolutely correct, the democratic party has effectively purged all pro-lifers from their ranks. Does anybody remember how the dems treated Gov. Bob Casey at the ‘96 convention? His son, the Senator from Pennsylvania is a absolute disgrace, claiming to be pro-life but voting the democratic party line on abortion. You can not truely be pro-life and vote democratic. It just doesn’t wash.


27 posted on 05/23/2012 5:23:24 PM PDT by BLOC77 (bloc07)
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To: iowamark; Sirius Lee; lilycicero; MaryLou1; glock rocks; JPG; Monkey Face; RIghtwardHo; ...
+

Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:

Add me / Remove me

Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.


28 posted on 05/23/2012 5:32:13 PM PDT by narses
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To: EternalVigilance; BlackElk; Impy; PhilCollins; fieldmarshaldj
>> Yes. And sadly, the Republicans are fixing to nominate a pro-choice democrat. One who hides that position right in the open behind only one tissue-thin layer of lies. <<

Here in Illinois, we have a "Republican" U.S. Senator who gloats about getting a 100% rating from Planned Parenthood and yet claims his position on abortion is "thoughtful" and "moderate". He actually claims to represent the beliefs of the "average" voter. I'm not sure which is more disgusting... the fact a "Republican" gets away with voting to the left of Hillary Clinton on abortion, or the fact so many "conservatives" make excuses for the guy and claim he "has to" vote that way to win over "moderates". Mark Kirk gung-ho, unapologetic abortion on demand isn't on the same planet as "social moderates". I haven't even found any hardcore "pro-choice" people who say they support partial birth abortion.

29 posted on 05/23/2012 6:28:45 PM PDT by BillyBoy (Illegals for Perry/Gingrich 2012 : Don't be "heartless"/ Be "humane")
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; ...

Thanks iowamark.


30 posted on 05/23/2012 7:00:50 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (FReepathon 2Q time -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: BLOC77

AMEN


31 posted on 05/23/2012 7:53:01 PM PDT by Friendofgeorge (SARAH PALIN 2012 OR BUST)
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To: steve86
It is not that hard to understand if you accept that all are sinners in a broken world.
32 posted on 05/23/2012 8:01:44 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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To: iowamark

People are beginning to realize that under health plans like obamacare, when they become inconvenient, they can be aborted at any age.


33 posted on 05/23/2012 10:19:00 PM PDT by clearcarbon
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To: steve86

I think the problem is that they’re repelled by abortion - or just know that they should be. But they don’t understand why they’re repelled.

There’s certainly no conversation about being in the image of God.

I like to remind people that were the only species having this conversation and work from there.


34 posted on 05/23/2012 10:35:53 PM PDT by hocndoc (WingRight.org Have mustard seed, not afraid to use it. Hold Rs to promises, don't watch O keep his.)
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To: iowamark

With the American people, 41 percent is a majority. 41 senators can keep a filibuster going and outpower the other 59. The American people don’t understand much about policy and government, or we wouldn’t be in the mess we are if they did.


35 posted on 05/24/2012 3:25:39 AM PDT by Theodore R. (Past is prologue: The American people again let us down in this election cycle.)
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To: St_Thomas_Aquinas

“Shame on those who are pro-abortion!”

Many people aren’t pro-abortion; they just don’t want it to be criminalized. Sort of like the libertarian stance on drugs.

But there are also quite a few people who really love abortions because they make a lot of money from it.


36 posted on 05/24/2012 3:46:57 PM PDT by ari-freedom
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To: A_Former_Democrat

“I wonder how much of this is attributable to heavily-Catholic Hispanics, yet who still 2/3 or more vote Democratic? So it seems regardless, the pro-abortion side is going to continue to win.”

Because the pro-abortion candidate is also the More Free Stuff candidate (as pointed out by the previous post)


37 posted on 05/24/2012 3:49:26 PM PDT by ari-freedom
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To: narses

Chicken nuggets made out of pink slime but that is for another thread.


38 posted on 05/24/2012 3:53:35 PM PDT by ari-freedom
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To: Biggirl; iowamark
A sign of hope.

It's not bad, but it was a cheapskate random sample of adults, not even registered voters, much less likely voters, with a plus or minus of four percent. It just as likely could be 46 - 45 percent in favor of prolife. That's too close for comfort.

39 posted on 05/24/2012 6:01:24 PM PDT by neverdem (Xin loi minh oi)
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To: iowamark

I prefer the term “pro-abortion” to “pro-choice”. We should not let the liberals get away with using euphemisms to mask what they truly believe in.


40 posted on 05/24/2012 6:19:14 PM PDT by SamAdams76
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