KELO says both pro-life and pro-abortion groups came out with polls today.
Pro lifers gathered to show what they say are positive results. The poll found 75 percent of South Dakota voters are against abortions used solely as birth control and 55 percent have an overall pro life approach to the issue.
Interestingly, that means 75% of South Dakotans are against the vast majority of the abortions that occur in South Dakota, because according to the last set of statistics available (2005), 79.5% of the women who had abortions outright admitted the reason was they “did not desire to have the child.” Only 2.7% of abortions in South Dakota were to prevent “serious health damage,” and zero were listed to save the life of the mother.
Of course, Planned Parenthood's poll paints a slightly different picture:
It shows 75 percent would favor more education programs and abstinence programs instead of a ban on abortion.
So 75% of South Dakotans are against abortion, but 75% of South Dakotans don't want to do anything about it? Sure, abstinence and other education programs can help, but for the cases where it doesn't work, you end up with a dead child. What can explain such a disconnect?
Well, the results of a poll can sway widely depending on what questions are asked, the verbiage used, and the tone and emphasis used by the questionnaire (if it's done verbally). If your verbiage and tone tell the respondent that they'd be an idiot to answer with Answer A, many of them will give Answer B, because they want to be thought of as "intelligent and informed."
An interesting detail about this Planned Parenthood poll shows 13% said they were liberals, 42% said they were moderate, and 41% said they were conservative. Since liberals almost always like to call themselves "moderate," that means this poll was more like 55% liberal to 41% conservative...a little unbalanced, ideologically.
Also, this company that did the poll, Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, doesn't exactly look like an objective organization. Their U.S. Campaigns page showed a liberal client list (Bill Clinton, Tim Johnson, the Democrat Party, and a host of Democrat congressmen and women. They have also done work for MoveOn.org, EMILY's List, Sierra Club, the pro-homosexual Human Rights Campaign, NARAL Pro-Choice America, National Education Association (NEA), and the infamous South Dakota Campaign for (Un)Healthy Families.
The founder, Stan Greenberg, helped Democrat Chris Dodd get into the Senate in 1980. He has also done other work in support of Democrats and the Democrat Party. Greenberg has also worked on projects with James Carville and Bob Shrum. In the 1990s he joined forces with a couple of leading Democratic strategists: Alan Quinlan and Jeremy Rosner.
So I'm supposed to believe Planned Parenthood's poll is unbiased, objective and accurate? Okay, now go pull my other leg.
Pro-life people aren't going to quit working for what's right, no matter what any poll says. Right and wrong aren't determined by popular opinion.
3 comments:
"Right and wrong aren't determined by public opinion."
Fortunately, public policy is. See you at the polls (along with the 75% who agree with me that laws won't solve this problem)!
Laws haven't stopped rape, assault, theft or vandalism--would you like to live without them?
Oh, and are you saying that what's right is irrelevant, as long as you can get what you want at the polls?
And in case you missed the point, I don't think the poll is accurate. If a pro-abortion group does a poll, it's a pretty safe bet they're going to "get" the results they want. The thing is, doing a slanted poll can give you a nasty surprise at the polls. :-)
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