A Few Polling Results

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From the latest (non-partisan) Pew Poll:

  • Almost two-thirds, 65%, are opposed to overturning Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion, but there also is public support for some limits on abortion. Almost three-fourths favor requiring women under age 18 to get parental consent before having an abortion.
  • Just over half of those polled, 53%, said they support civil unions for gay people, while 36% said they favor gay marriage — a slight increase on both issues from a year ago.
  • By almost 2-1, people think it’s more important to conduct stem cell research that may lead to cures for debilitating illnesses than to avoid destroying potential life of embryos involved in such research.

    • Democrats are simply doing an awful job explicitly reminding Americans that we are for these things and Republicans are against them. At the same time, we are also not doing enough to make sure that the media reports stories through the prism of public opinion. For instance, the President has an approval rating in the low 40s, and hasn’t been over 50% for quite a while. But until very recently he was constantly referred to as “popular.” The same goes for abortion and stem cells and, to a lesser extent, civil unions. Hell, I didn’t even know how well Roe v. Wade polled until fairly recently. Most Americans need some kind of validation of their views, and knowing that they are in the majority reinforces their perspective.

    We’re not holding a whole lot of winning cards, but we should be playing the ones we do have, now.