SINCE their dramatic election victory last November, Republicans have been urged to avoid getting “bogged down in divisive social issues.” Yet as the controversy over President Clinton’s nomination of Henry Foster for surgeon general has shown, Americans are more concerned about so-called social issues than media coverage and elite opinion would indicate. This is particularly true of abortion, ostensibly the most divisive of all social issues.
Candidates committed to a pro-life agenda actually did disproportionately well in 1994. Not a single pro-life incumbent of either party lost to a pro-choice challenger in a gubernatorial, House, or Senate race. Pro-life challengers also did well: 64 of the 72 GOP House freshmen are clearly pro-life, as are 2 of the 14 new Democrats. Most of the 11 incoming GOP senators are also pro-life. Exit-polling data confirm that the abortion issue helped nearly all Republicans with a pro-life position.
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