Gallup Poll: Obama Collides with Public Opinion on Abortion

Conservatives are buzzing about the new latest Gallup poll being reported on Drudge today. It offers a fresh angle on the Obama/Notre Dame controversy, and it may turn out to be a watershed moment for the pro-life movement. For the first time since 1995, a majority of Americans are pro-life.

Of special interest to me is that Gallup attributes it to the President's overreach on abortion policy.

With the first pro-choice president in eight years already making changes to the nation's policies on funding abortion overseas, expressing his support for the Freedom of Choice Act, and moving toward rescinding federal job protections for medical workers who refuse to participate in abortion procedures, Americans -- and, in particular, Republicans -- seem to be taking a step back from the pro-choice position. However, the retreat is evident among political moderates as well as conservatives.

It is possible that, through his abortion policies, Obama has pushed the public's understanding of what it means to be "pro-choice" slightly to the left, politically. While Democrats may support that, as they generally support everything Obama is doing as president, it may be driving others in the opposite direction.

Conservatives are seizing on this as proof that it would be not just wrong, but also imprudent, for the GOP to abandon its conservative message:

GOP leaders across the nation should take note of both this week's poll and last week's Pew research that show the pro-life position is strengthening the Republican Party," said Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser. "It's time to abandon the 'blame pro-lifers first' approach when the GOP loses. If Republicans want to improve their electoral performance, standing on the side of Life is one of the best decisions they can make."

The Gallup poll confirms another national survey by the Pew Research Center, which found that overall support for abortion is down and that the largest numbers of converts to the pro-life cause have been self-identified independents and liberal-to-moderate Republicans.