Life Opportunities

TALKING about social issues obviously makes John McCain uncomfortable, and he has said that he is not passionate about them. He doesn’t have to become more enthusiastic. But he does need to understand that the most politically salient of the social issues, abortion, is a vulnerability of Barack Obama. To win the presidency, McCain needs to take advantage of that weakness.

McCain has consistently voted against abortion since coming to Congress. But for much of McCain’s political career, the conventional wisdom was that opposition to abortion is a losing issue: Republican politicians might have to be pro-life to survive primaries, but then had to mollify the pro-choice majority in general elections. That conventional wisdom has never been true. Surveys have consistently found that pro-lifers are more likely to vote on abortion than pro-choicers, and that greater intensity has translated into a political benefit for pro-life candidates. With time, moreover, the notion that the pro-life position is a political liability has become even less tenable.

About the Author

Ramesh Ponnuru

Ramesh Ponnuru is the editor of National Review, a columnist for the Washington Post, and a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

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TALKING about social issues obviously makes John McCain uncomfortable, and he has said that he is not passionate about them. He doesn’t have to become more enthusiastic. But he does need to understand that the most politically salient of the social issues, abortion, is a vulnerability of Barack Obama. To win the presidency, McCain needs to take advantage of that weakness.

McCain has consistently voted against abortion since coming to Congress. But for much of McCain’s political career, the conventional wisdom was that opposition to abortion is a losing issue: Republican politicians might have to be pro-life to survive primaries, but then had to mollify the pro-choice majority in general elections. That conventional wisdom has never been true. Surveys have consistently found that pro-lifers are more likely to vote on abortion than pro-choicers, and that greater intensity has translated into a political benefit for pro-life candidates. With time, moreover, the notion that the pro-life position is a political liability has become even less tenable.