The Orange County Register ran a doom and gloom article on abortion, saying that a Field Poll release suggests abortion will drive statewide elections this year. This is important because Carly Fiorina is a three-exception pro-life Republican.
But there’s one big, honking problem with that theory, and the Register‘s Dena Bunis even mentions it:
Among Boxer supporters, 82 percent support abortion rights. Of those who back Fiorina, 55 percent favor them.
If 55% of Carly Fiorina’s backers are pro-Roe v. Wade, then that undercuts any theory that abortion is driving the election in California this year.
And it gets worse for the abortion-victory premise than that. Catch this tidbit from the San Francisco Chronicle on the same poll:
The abortion factor: Boxer has made her support of abortion rights a linchpin of her campaign against Fiorina, who opposes abortion rights. The survey results were mixed: 30 percent were more likely to vote for a candidate who opposed abortion rights, 37 percent were less likely and 33 percent thought it made no difference.
The margin of error on that poll was 2.8. If you’re like me and have grown up seeing abortion drive election after election in California, these numbers are incredible. As in literally: I don’t want to believe them because they sound too good to be true. But unemployment is sky high in this state; most counties wish unemployment were as low as 10%. Some conservatives (including this one) scoffed at Mitch Daniels for offering a truce on abortion, but it looks like the squishy pro-abortion middle in California is doing the same.
So really, the Field Poll seems to reject the very title of the Register‘s piece. Californians, at least this year, are not backing abortion, not when two thirds are neutral or negative on a candidate running for abortion. It’s one thing to make noises for Roe, but talk is cheap and votes matter.
Carly Fiorina is running on jobs and the economy, and California is ready to follow her. Unemployment is crippling this state, and Californians want better. That’s why I’m convinced Carly can and will win this fall, and California of all states will send a pro-life woman into the United States Senate, on a mission to reverse the failed Boxer-Obama economic policies.