Percentage of Americans Approving Abortion Dropped 8% since August: Pew Poll

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May 4th, 2009
Tim Waggoner

Despite President Barack Obama’s strong promotion of abortion in his first 100 days as president, a new study has revealed an overall increase in the number of Americans believing abortion should be illegal in most cases.

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press was conducted from March 31-April 21, among 1,521 adults.

The survey found that the overall support for legal abortion dropped from 54% last August to 46% this month, with the number of people supporting the illegalization of abortion rising 3% to 44%.

The slide in abortion support is due mainly to a change in the persuasion of men, with the percentage of males believing abortion should be legal falling 10% to 43% and the proportion feeling it should be illegal rising 4% to 46%.

The greatest change among religious groups was found among white mainline Protestants, with 54% believing abortion should be legal, compared with 69% in August. Only 23% of Evangelical Protestants thought abortion should be legal, making them the most pro-life religious group.

Support for abortion also declined by 24% among moderate and liberal Republicans. The Center reported that 67% of liberal and moderate Republicans said abortion should be legal in August 2008. In this month’s survey, that number had fallen to only 43%.

Support for abortion declined by 11% among independents. The Center reported 55% of independents said abortion should be legal in August 2008. In this month’s survey, that number had fallen to 44%.

See the full Pew Research report here:
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1212/abortion-gun-control-opinio…

Comments

Joe DeVet

Why is it that Catholics are not the most pro-life group?
dennisofraleigh

Yeah, that and a couple of bucks will buy you a donut and coffe at the local diner. As long as this disapproval of abortion goes no higher on the scale of priorities among American voters than depletion of the ozone and illiteracy we’re going to continue to see abortyrants like Barbara Boxer and Chuck Shumer returning to their D.C. offices term after term and continue to easily bat down any effort to restrict or ban abortion on the part of pro-life lawmakers.

And Joe, to answer your question, officially the Catholic Church is the most pro-life organization in the world. At least on paper and in the episcopate. As for lay Catholics, in the U.S. and Europe they have for the most part apostasized from their own Church’s teachings regarding the moral outrage that is abortion, and chosen instead to go with what is most politically expedient, never mind what happens to untold thousands of unborn babies year in and year out. Out of sight. Out of mind.
And to add to the scandal, too many of our Catholic pastors would as soon let their parishioners continue sleepwalking than awaken them to the horrors going on, in some cases, a short automobile drive from the parish church where they attend Mass on any given Sunday. We need to pray for our fellow Catholics, not merely for the sake of the unborn, but because of the desperate state of the souls of those who have grown deaf to the cries of the unborn.

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