Poll: Bush Down; Abortion Restrictions Supported

[DanS]

Interesting poll data. Bush is down @ 59% (welcome back to mortality). Gulf War II is less popular @ 57%, but is still much higher than at this point in the process in '91 (43%, IIRC).

The most interesting stuff for me was the abortion polls. A strong majority @ 57% now support restricting abortion on demand. See Question #32. A full 43% disapprove of Roe.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/polls/vault/stories/data012103.htm

[Ben Kenobi]

Good thread

Only 23% favour abortion on demand.

31. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1973 that a woman can have an abortion if she wants one at any time during the first three months of pregnancy. Do you favor or oppose that ruling?

This wording will increase the number in favour of Roe v Wade because Roe technically permits abortions for the first 6 months not 9. To still have 43% against is very high. 43 percent is very close to the 42 percent supporting restriction of abortion.

Abortion done after the first six months of pregnancy only has 11 percent support, despite 23 percent favouring abortion on demand, or 23 percent favouring partial-birth abortion.



How do you make sense of that? Why are the six month abortion supporters so few?

[DanS]

Yes, there are other contradictions as well. The net who say abortion should be legal in most cases stands 57%, but then 57% also say "[w]hen the woman is not married and does not want the baby", it should be illegal.

[Ben Kenobi]

Odd.

Any ideas on why the polling variations come about?
Or are there just some very confused people out there?

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by obiwan18
Good thread

Only 23% favour abortion on demand.

31. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1973 that a woman can have an abortion if she wants one at any time during the first three months of pregnancy. Do you favor or oppose that ruling?

This wording will increase the number in favour of Roe v Wade because Roe technically permits abortions for the first 6 months not 9.

The standards are different, though - Roe leaves open the possibility that advances in medical technology would push the window of viability back before six months, and if that happens, then the recognized state interest in the welfare of the fetus moves as well.

[DanS]

They had an article in the Post about this the other day. They say medical tech is pushing 3 months.

I don't have a good idea about the probability of success, etc.

[Ben Kenobi]

MtG, the question is really misleading, as people will assume that this is the status quo in the US. If it were, abortions beyond 21 weeks would be illegal.

The important case is Doe v. Bolton. Here, threat to the health of the mother is extended to emotional as well as physical well-being so that the state's interest in the fetus never enters the equation.

That would be a better question, IMHO,

"Do you support Doe v. Bolton, allowing pregnant women access to abortion throughout nine months for a threat to the woman's physical and emotional health?"

Edit:

DanS, 3 months? That is news to me. Do you have the link?

[HershOstropoler]

"This wording will increase the number in favour of Roe v Wade because Roe technically permits abortions for the first 6 months..."

IIRC Roe v Wade allows to limit abortion to certain indications (danger to health, rape, etc) after the first 3 months. In the last trimester they can ban abortions except for protecting the life/health of the mother, roughly.

Btw, one can "oppose the ruling" while agreeing with the policy it sets out.

[Urban Ranger]

Re: Poll: Bush Down; Abortion Restrictions Supported

Originally posted by DanS
Interesting poll data. Bush is down @ 59% (welcome back to mortality). Gulf War II is less popular @ 57%, but is still much higher than at this point in the process in '91 (43%, IIRC).

Dubya got a halo due to 9-11 but it is wearing off. His rhetorics on Gulf War II has started grating on a lot of people. Bush Sr. didn't have the halo.

Also, the anti-war protests in the US have been huge, they were described as the biggest ones after Vietnam.

[KrazyHorse]

Re: Poll: Bush Down; Abortion Restrictions Supported

Originally posted by DanS
Interesting poll data. Bush is down @ 59% (welcome back to mortality). Gulf War II is less popular @ 57%, but is still much higher than at this point in the process in '91 (43%, IIRC).

But declining, declining declining. And that number assumes you can get the SC to go along, IIRC...

[JohnT]

"How do you make sense of that? Why are the six month abortion supporters so few?"

Because 6 month fetuses are viable, which makes them human, which makes abortion at that stage murder. You have to ask???

Psychology might be the key, especially given the wording of the question:

In late-term procedures known as dilation and extraction, or partial-birth abortions.

"Procedures" implies, to the non-medical among us, medical necessity. I'm thinking that had the question NOT used the word procedures and just said "Partial Birth Abortions", the number would be lower.

[Boris Godunov]

The support for the war is based on a lot of unrealistic assumptions (few casualties, very successful very quick). The longer you assume the war will last, the more support declines. Take away U.N. support, it drops below 50% dramatically. CNN did a poll yesterday about France and Germany's lack of support, and 65% said that we shouldn't attack without their support. If the war gets bloody and we see body bags coming home, you can bet it's going to get really nasty for Bush.

An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll has his job approval rating down to 54%, with 40% disapproving. Only 35% backed his economic stimulus package, which is seen as a big kickback to the wealthy.

[Solly]

Ban it full stop.

[KrazyHorse]

I'm not surprised you feel that way, being our resident misogynist and all...

[Solly]

Abortion is a human matter, not just a female one.