Pro-Life Polls and Ignorance: When the Wrong Stars Align

Today I read that a Gallup poll revealed that 51% of the United States opposes abortion and that “only” 42% support the Women’s Right to Choose. The article, located in the New York Times opinion section, criticizes President Obama for not addressing this supposedly critical issue. As if universal health care, poverty, and the economy somehow should just be pushed aside in favor of engaging in a debate on morals.

I am in no way surprised that the new Gallup numbers show that 10% more Republicans have declared themselves Pro-Life.

Some political pundits may claim that the President should and will eventually be forced by popular consensus to address the issue of abortion. What these same people fail to grasp is that polls are misleading and seldom accurate. The 2004 Democratic Primary in New Hampshire proved this. Howard Dean was supposed to crush Senator Kerry according to all polls. Those polls were based on an overly frustrated electorate which in their haste to pass judgment on swift boat accusations, simply forgot to vote.

No, the real reason abortion has re-entered the political circus is because Republicans are struggling to re-invent themselves, clinging to archaic moral sentiment regarding gay marriage and a woman’s right to choose. This is a time-tested tactic. Former President Ronald Reagan patented the idea of focusing peoples’ minds on traditional family values, drawing their attention away from nation and international affairs, consequently fostering the comforting notion of national ignorance.

The Republican Party has lost their argument for war in Iraq, which is of course how President George W. Bush shaped the Party, doing so with great success for nearly eight years. The War on Terror, Fear, will bring people together. President Obama’s message of hope and peace has dismantled this notion of silent obedient consent. It has left the Republican Party in ruins, grasping at straws anywhere they can.

Make no mistake, this poll reflects only one thing: the desperation of an elitist governing party that may indeed have little to no place in this new, hopeful America.