Poll: Pro-Life Candidates Received 5-Point Advantage in 2020

A McLaughlin & Associates poll shows that abortion-motivated voters had a significant impact on the November election, National Right to Life News reports:

Nationally, 23% of voters said that the abortion issue affected their vote and voted for candidates who oppose abortion. This compares to just 18% who said abortion affected their vote and voted for candidates who favor abortion, yielding a 5% advantage for pro-life candidates.

In states where National Right to Life’s political committees were most actively involved, 27% of voters said that the abortion issue affected their vote and voted for candidates who oppose abortion. This compares to just 16% who said abortion affected their vote and voted for candidates who favor abortion, yielding an 11% advantage for pro-life candidates in those high-activity states.

Federal races that were decided in favor of an anti-abortion candidate by less than 5 points — in other words, those where single-issue pro-life voters likely decided the election — include:

Arizona District 6: Rep. David Schweikert (R) over Hiral Tipirneni (D)
California District 39: Young Kim (R) over Rep. Gil Cisneros (D)
California District 48: Rep. Michelle Steel (R) over Harley Rouda (D)
Florida District 26: Carlos Gimenez (R) over Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D)
Florida District 27: Maria Elvira Salazar (R) over Rep. Donna Shalala (D)
Indiana District 5: Victoria Spartz (R) over Christina Hale (D)
Iowa District 1: Ashley Hinson (R) over Rep. Abby Finkenauer (D)
Minnesota District 1: Rep. Jim Hagedorn (R) over Dan Feehan (D)
Nebraska District 2: Rep. Donald Bacon (R) over Kara Eastman (D)
North Carolina: Sen. Thom Tillis (R) over Cal Cunningham (D)
South Carolina District 1: Nancy Mace (R) over Rep. Joe Cunningham (D)
Texas District 23: Tony Gonzales (R) over Gina Ortiz Jones (D)
Texas District 24: Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R) over Candace Valenzuela (D)
Virginia District 5: Rep. Bob Good (R) over Cameron Webb (D)

The above list omits races which remain too close for the Associated Press to call.

Although Republicans have benefited tremendously from single-issue pro-life voters, it’s worth noting that pro-life Democrats did quite well in state-level races, with 81 victories by “True Blue” candidates endorsed by Democrats for Life of America. As Democratic Party leaders conduct their election postmortem, they’d do well to remember that abortion extremism is unpopular with the American populace, and the five-point pro-life advantage is available to candidates of either party who are prepared to take a stand for children in the womb.

[Photo credit: Element5 Digital on Unsplash]