The divisive issues of abortion, birth control and even giving employers an exemption to providing birth control insurance benefits aren’t the GOP candidate killers in battleground states some Democrats claim, according to a Planned Parenthood-Emily’s List poll.
While the Democrats overwhelmingly win when the question is which party best supports access to birth control and abortion, voters are split on several abortion issues, even when it comes to demanding that women undergo ultrasound before having an abortion, according to the poll done by the respected Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research firm. However, the issues do rob the GOP of its overall 5 percent advantage.
The biggest winner in the poll of voters in key Senate battleground states of Florida, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin is federal funding of Planned Parenthood, regularly under Republican attack. Some 63 percent oppose prohibiting Planned Parenthood from getting tax dollars to pay for birth control. Adding abortion doesn’t make much a difference: 61 percent oppose cutting funds to clinics that provide abortion services.
The new poll finds that when birth control and abortion positions of generic candidates are considered, the GOP loses its advantage on a generic ballot. That gives Democrats a boost, but the swing doesn’t kill the Republicans’ election chances. For example, while 60 percent opposed the failed GOP Senate amendment to allow any U.S. employer, not just those affiliated with a religious institution, to deny contraceptive health coverage to its employees based on religious or moral objections, just 48 percent would be “less likely” to back a candidate who supported the amendment.
Also voters are also split 48 percent to 48 percent in picking generic candidates who support or oppose access to birth control. The same 48-48 split occurs when asked about legislation requiring women to undergo an ultrasound before having an abortion like the law Virginia just passed.
And on the biggest issue of the day, jobs and the economy, the GOP leads Democrats 45 percent to 40 percent, according to the poll.
