A new poll released late last week by the Susan B. Anthony List found that American voters in 2018 Senate battleground states support ending federal funding for Planned Parenthood. The report — conducted in late November of last year by the polling company, inc./WomanTrend on behalf of the SBA list — surveyed 1650 actual voters in states that feature the six battleground Senate races in November of 2018: Florida, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
Overall, voters oppose giving taxpayer dollars to the abortion group by a margin of 56 to 40 percent. Broken down further, 28 percent strongly support federally funding Planned Parenthood, while 47 percent strongly oppose doing so. Florida and Wisconsin had the smallest margin on this matter; in Florida, voters opposed federal funding by a margin of just two percent, while in Wisconsin, voters opposed it by a margin of 5 percentage points.
Even more interesting, the poll found that, by a margin of over 30 percentage points, Americans in these battleground states would be less likely to vote for any senator that voted to give federal money to Planned Parenthood rather than to local community health centers. Among the 60 percent who were less likely to support such a senator, 44 percent considered themselves “much less likely” to do so.
The poll was released at the same time as news that the congressional GOP plans to defund Planned Parenthood as part of its legislative attempt to roll back at least some portions of the Affordable Care Act. Planned Parenthood and its allies immediately fought back, insisting that millions of low-income women won’t have access to necessary health care if the group were to lose federal funding. However, a quick survey of both types of clinics reveals that Planned Parenthood doesn’t provide nearly as many essential health-care services for women as it claims; the federally qualified community health centers that might serve as a substitute tend to provide much more holistic care and a greater number of options for both men and women.
This promising data should bolster Republican senators and members of Congress as they once more embark upon the difficult task of defunding the abortion organization.