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5 January 2006

Abortion Politics Continue

In anticipation of the Senate confirmation hearings for judge Samuel Alito next week, yesterday All Things Considered devoted almost half an hour to the politics of abortion. It is remarkable to recall that it was initially Republicans such as then California Governor Ronald Reagan who pushed for more "liberal" abortion policies in the pre-Roe 1960s.

Even when Reagan was elected president, party identification was not a strong correlate of citizens' abortion attitudes. The (imperfect) 4-point NES abortion question shows that in 1980 30% of Republicans and 34% of Democrats were staunchly pro-choice ("always a personal choice"). In fact, there were more staunchly pro-life ("never permitted") Democrats (13%) than Republicans (8%). By 2000 29% of Republicans and a whopping 50% of Democrats were clearly pro-choice. Adams (1997 AJPS) has documented this "issue evolution" around abortion attitudes, as does Sanbonmatsu's 2002 book. Abramowitz (1995 JOP) argues that the 1992 presidential election was about abortion rights as much as the economy. Toying with the 2004 NES suggests that abortion attitudes affected vote choices even after accounting for party ID, views about the Iraq war, and demographics.

Posted by Barry Burden at January 5, 2006 1:11 PM