Poll: Voters Rank Abortion Below Economy, Immigration

By Nathan Black, Christian Post Reporter Tuesday, August 17, 2010

More than half of U.S. voters believe abortion is morally wrong most of the time, a new report shows.

At the same time, nearly half (49 percent) say they are pro-choice, according to Rasmussen Reports.

The electronic media company collected data from a survey of 1,000 likely voters. It was conducted last week by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC.

The percentage of voters who hold the belief that abortion is morally wrong has remained unchanged at 54 percent. More women believe it is morally wrong than men.

Forty-nine percent of all voters describe themselves as pro-choice and 43 percent say they are pro-life. Sixty-one percent of pro-choice voters do not believe abortion is morally wrong most of the time.

The survey also found that 48 percent say abortion is too easy to obtain in this country. Only 15 percent say it is too hard and 23 percent think the level of difficulty is about right.

With the midterm elections coming up in November, the survey found that 61 percent of voters say abortion is at least somewhat important as an issue in terms of how they will vote. A third say it is very important and 37 percent say it is not very or not at all important.

Pro-lifers are twice as likely as those who are pro-choice to rank abortion as an important voting issue.

Overall, abortion ranks below 10 other issues – including the economy, government ethics and immigration – in terms of voter interest.

Notably, 40 percent of voters trust Democrats more on the abortion issue and 37 percent trust Republicans more.