Pro-life proposals garner strong support with Florida voters

Recently, Florida has gained national attention over a number of proposals aimed at reducing the number of abortions performed in the state. Viewpoint Florida went into the field this week to see how likely 2012 general election voters in Florida identified on the pro-life/pro-choice spectrum, and where they stood on some of the specific measures making their way through the Legislature.

We opened our poll by asking respondents if they identified themselves as either pro-life or pro-choice. 39% of respondents considered themselves pro-life, while 55% considered themselves pro-choice.

Responses broke along predictable partisan lines, with Republicans more likely to call themselves pro-life, and Democrats much more likely to identify as pro-choice. The most interesting findings on this question were the lack of a gender gap (55% of both male and female respondents identified as pro-choice), and the fact that likely voters under the age of 35 and over the age of 65 were less likely to consider themselves pro-choice.

Next, we asked whether doctors should be required to notify a minor’s parents before performing an abortion on a minor. This measure received overwhelming support, with 78% of respondents supporting such a requirement. Democrats were less likely than Republicans to support parental notification, but even 70% of them said they would support it, while 87% of Republican respondents said they would also support the requirement.

Voters were more divided on the question of requiring women to get an ultrasound before obtaining an abortion. 55% of respondents said they would support such a measure, while 39% said they would oppose it. The ultrasound requirement does receive majority support across party lines, with 51% of Democrats and 55% of Independents supporting the measure. Women were slightly more likely than men to support such a requirement, with 59% supporting a mandatory ultrasound to 52% of male respondents.

Respondents strongly supported a controversial measure that would ban all abortions after 20 weeks gestation unless the pregnancy poses a health risk to the mother. 73% of respondents said they would support such a ban, with 54% saying they would strongly support it. The measure received supermajority support across party lines, and 76% of female respondents said they would support the ban.

Finally, 63% of respondents said they would support legislation preventing the use of taxpayer dollars in paying for abortions. Voters under the age of 35 were the most likely to support such legislation with 74% of respondents saying they would back the measure. On the partisan crosstabs, independent voters were less likely to support such a bill than Republicans (65% support) or Democrats (63% support).

The study was conducted on April 7 - 8th among 803 registered voters likely to vote in the 2012 General Election. The margin of error is +/- 3.5%.


Full Results

Crosstabs

For details see Methodology

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