Pro-life voters looking for some good news heading into 2012 and the battle to defeat pro-abortion President Barack Obama got some good news today as new numbers from USA Today polls showed a shift in the right direction.
The new USA TODAY/Gallup Swing States Poll finds the number of voters who identify themselves as Democratic or Democratic-leaning in a dozen of the top battle ground states are getting out of Obama’s party. They percentage dropped 4 percent while the number of Republican voters in those states, who are looking for an Obama replacement, is up 5 percent.
The poll also shows Republican voters are more enthusiastic about voting in the 2012 presidential election than their Democratic counterparts. Some 61 percent of Republicans are enthusiastic compared with 47 percent of Democrats.
Key groups of Republicans — conservatives, middle-aged men and those 50 to 64 years old — are most enthusiastic while core Democratic groups that were critical to Obama’s election in 2008, including minorities and younger voters are least enthusiastic.
“The contrasting conditions of the nation’s two major political parties — discouraged Democrats and resurgent Republicans — underscore how different Obama’s re-election campaign is from the contest four years ago,” USA Today said. “Consider the math: In 2008, when Obama carried the swing states by 8 percentage points, Democrats there swamped Republicans in party identification by 11 points. Now, that partisan edge has tightened to a statistically insignificant 2 points.”
“Republicans are more likely to be paying a lot of attention than Democrats — 69% to 48% — and they are more likely to say the election’s outcome will make a major difference to the course of the economy,” the newspaper reported.
Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus told the newspaper, “Enthusiasm is a tremendous benefit. We’re going to be able to mobilize a grass-roots army. It helps us recruit volunteers and run absentee-ballot programs. We can fill rooms with people making phone calls and going door-to-door.”
The 12 swing states in the poll included: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.
In those 12 states, Obama trails former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney by a 48-43 percentage point margin. And he trails former Speaker Newt Gingrich by a 48-45 percentage point margin.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of the Susan B. Anthony List, says pro-life people need to get engaged now to replace the abortion advocate with someone who can give the pro-life movement a chance to roll back the pro-abortion policies Obama put in place and change the makeup of the Supreme Court to allow for legal protection for unborn children.
“If we’re going to defeat Barack Obama, the Abortion President, and replace him with an authentic leader for Life in 2012, we must start laying the groundwork now by building our war chest,” she said.
“Nothing could be more important than electing a pro-life president in 2012. We must reverse the onslaught of anti-Life policies and go on the offensive for unborn children,” she added.
Dannenfelser said she is pleased some of the Republican presidential candidates have signed the group’s pledge — calling for de-funding abortion and Planned Parenthood, legislation to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy based on the scientific evidence showing fetal pain, and a commitment to appointing the kinds of judges who will not uphold the invention of a fictitious right to abortion. She also said pro-life issues have to be “core” issues in the 2012 election campaign and make it to “the forefront of the presidential race.”
“We’ll ensure that our voice for the unborn is louder and stronger than those who call for truces, or those who think social issues don’t matter,” she said of what SBA would do between now and the November 2012 elections.
Dannenfelser also encouraged pro-life advocates to expose the lengthy pro-abortion record Obama has compiled.
“Barack Obama is the most pro-abortion president our nation has ever seen. The SBA List will educate key swing voters in battleground states on President Obama’s record. We’ll expose his unwavering support for pro-abortion judges and taxpayer funding of abortion. Polls show that when pro-life voters are educated and mobilized, they can provide the margin of victory in close races,” she said.
“The stakes are high. Every day in our nation, four thousand children die from abortion while that many women are left hurt and scarred,” Dannenfelser continued. “Not only are we going up against President Obama’s re-election campaign team and the Democratic National Committee, but you can bet that the pro-abortion lobby is raising funds right now to ensure Barack Obama is re-elected. Unborn children cannot take another four years of Barack Obama sitting in the White House and Kathleen Sebelius directing Health and Human Services.”
Dannenfelser worries the fate of abortion could be sealed for some time if Obama gets another four years to advance abortion, saying, “I strongly believe that if Barack Obama is elected to another term, he will only ramp up his anti-Life agenda.”
She encouraged pro-life people to begin to “aggressively lay the groundwork to defeat Barack Obama and elect a true pro-life President in 2012. With a pro-life leader in the White House, we can reverse the damage done by the Obama administration and quickly go on the offensive to pass laws that will save the lives of unborn babies and their mothers.”
