Amidst the political setbacks for the right-to-life movement,
maybe the worst since the 1970s, the Gallup Poll
reports that 51 percent of Americans call themselves
“pro-life” on the issue of abortion; 42 percent are
“pro-choice.”
“This is the first time a majority of adults have identified
themselves as pro-life since Gallup began asking this question in
1995,” says Lydia Saad, writing for the Gallup organization on
its website.
These results are derived from Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs
survey. According to Saad, “they represent a significant
shift from a year ago, when 50% were pro-choice and 44% were
pro-life. Prior to now, the highest percentage identifying
as pro-life was 46%, in both August 2001 and May 2002.”
The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percent, but in terms of
the direction and overall shift, these are remarkable numbers
given the ambient political environment which is hostile to the
cause of the unborn, at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.
Gallup interviewed 1,013 national adults, aged 18 and older, May
7-10.
In terms of the legal issues implicated by abortion, “about as
many Americans now say the procedure should be illegal in all
circumstances (23%) as say it should be legal under any
circumstances (22%).” Saad claims this contrasts with the
past four years, “when Gallup found a strong tilt of public
attitudes in favor of unrestricted abortion.”
The majority of Americans occupy what Saad calls “the middle
option” with 53% saying “abortion should be legal only
under certain circumstances” (emphasis added).
Saad also cites a recent national survey by the Pew Research
Center recorded an eight percentage-point decline since last
August in those saying abortion should be legal in all or most
cases, from 54 to 46 percent. The percentages for those
saying abortion should be legal in only a few or no cases
increased from 41 to 44 percent during the same period.
Saad notes that the percentage of Republicans, including
independents leaning Republican, calling themselves “pro-life
rose by 10 points over the past year, from 60 to 70
percent. “There was essentially no change in the views of
Democrats and Democratic leaners…all of the increase in pro-life
sentiment is seen among self-identified conservatives and
moderates; the abortion views of political liberals have not
changed,” says Saad.
Other findings of interest include the following:
There has been an eight-point gain among Protestants and a
seven-point gain among Catholics in terms of identifying
themselves as pro-life.
While women used to call themselves pro-choice over pro-life a
year ago (50 versus 43 percent), today women as well as men are
more likely to be pro-life. So much for the gender gap on
the life issues-at least for now. Again, Saad writes that
“this is the first time in nine years of Gallup Values surveys
that significantly more men and women are pro-life than
pro-choice.”
What is the reason for the change in these polling numbers?
Saad speculates that it is possible that President Obama,
“through his abortion policies…has pushed the public’s
understanding of what it means to be ‘pro-choice’ slightly to the
left, politically.”
“While Democrats may support that, as they generally support
everything Obama is doing as president, it may be driving others
in the opposite direction.”
Maybe President Obama, with his keen political instincts, detects
this shift in opinion. If so, it is no accident that, at
his recent press conference, he made it clear that passage of the
Freedom of Choice Act was not his top legislative priority.
Moreover, he has, quite shrewdly, stayed out of the controversy
over his honorary degree at Notre Dame.
While such small, nuanced changes in the President’s political
position on the life issues are hardly grounds to celebrate, it
is bracing to see the majority of Americans opting for the
culture of life during these unsettled times.
