Posts: 5232
From: Madeira Beach, FL USA
Registered: Apr 2009

posted May 23, 2012 12:13 PM            

---

May 23, 2012
"Pro-Choice" Americans at Record-Low 41%
Americans now tilt "pro-life" by nine-point margin, 50% to 41%
by Lydia Saad

PRINCETON, NJ -- 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.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/154838/Pro-Choice-Americans-Record-Low.aspx

IP: Logged

Posts: 359
From:
Registered: Jun 2009

posted May 23, 2012 07:28 PM            

---

God forgive me for the MotherJones link, but I agree that there exists quite a lot of gray area within the pro-choice/anti-choice debate. I've personally known plenty of women who are, for lack of a better description, "pro-life" for themselves, yet would stop short of forcing their personal moral agenda on their fellow citizens.

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/05/many-pro-life-americans-dont-want -outlaw-abortion

The big exciting news for Republicans in the latest Gallup poll on abortion is that more Americans identify as "pro-life" and fewer identify as "pro-choice" than ever. Although that's probably not meaningless, Americans' views on whether abortion should be legal haven't actually changed at all.

Here's the carefully written lede from Life News: "A new Gallup survey out today finds the percentage of Americans who identify themselves as supporting legalized abortion has dropped to a record low." It's true that the pro-life movement sees itself as opposing all forms of legalized abortion and 50 percent of Americans now identify as pro-life. But when you look at what the poll results actually say, it's clear Americans' feelings about abortion being legal are much more complicated:

Since 2001, at least half of Americans have consistently chosen the middle position, saying abortion should be legal under certain circumstances, and the 52% saying this today is similar to the 50% in May 2011. The 25% currently wanting abortion to be legal in all cases and the 20% in favor of making it illegal in all cases are also similar to last year's findings.

So a large majority—77 percent—of Americans support abortion being legal in all or "certain circumstances," and just 20 percent of Americans are actually "pro-life" in the sense that opponents of legalized abortion understand the term. Another way of saying this is that most Americans are actually pro-choice even if they sometimes identify as pro-life. In fact, there are more Americans who think abortion should be legal in all circumstances (25 percent) than think it should be illegal in all circumstances (20 percent).

That's good news for someone, but not for people who want to outlaw abortion.

IP: Logged

Posts: 8116
From:
Registered: Apr 2009

posted May 24, 2012 01:42 PM            

---

a poll is only as good as the questions asked and the range of people polled. shura is right though, most people do not consider birth control murder, but some will be pushing that just to make the rest of us feel like cretins if they can.

ami thinks it's "easy to be for abortion", well historically it has been anything BUT. of course there are many who agree with the fox commentator who thinks it was insanity to give the vote to women, because they're crazy (his own words)...

IP: Logged

Posts: 5232
From: Madeira Beach, FL USA
Registered: Apr 2009

posted May 24, 2012 02:43 PM            

---

Admit it. The abortion issue is cutting against you!

IP: Logged

Posts: 8116
From:
Registered: Apr 2009

posted May 24, 2012 02:46 PM            

---

or what, jwhop? you going to arm wrestle me? obviously neither i nor shura are convinced by the drum-beating conservatives that they have turned the tide. things are still pretty much as they always have been.

abortions always have and always will happen. the question as to whether they should be LEGAL comes and goes. the MAJORITY still believe that it is ridiculous to try to ban it altogether. what else did you miss?

IP: Logged