Balkinization  

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

More on the Reverse Litmus Test

JB

Here's further evidence that if Bush and his advisers are strategic, they will apply a reverse litmus test in Supreme Court appointments. A recent (June 24th-26th, 2005) CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll shows that 65 percent of Americans do not want the President to appoint a Justice who will vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, compared to 29 percent who want him to do so. (A similar Pew Research Center survey conducted from June 8th to June 12th shows that 30 percent would like Roe "completely overturned" while 62 percent would oppose it.).

The CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll also shows that 55 percent of those polled want abortion to be legal sometimes, 24 percent always legal, and only 22 percent always illegal. This confirms what pollsters have long understood-- that the median position in American public opinion is to allow some abortion restrictions but not complete criminalization. A nominee who promises not to overturn Roe v. Wade but who relentlessly chips away at it will provoke far less public opposition than a die hard opponent of Roe.


Comments:

Of course, what the polsters probably didn't make clear to the people being polled was that Roe v Wade is shorthand for a constellation of court rulings which together assure that abortion can't be significantly restricted.
 

brett's point about what the pollsters may or may not have told those being polled is well taken; however, i would submit that without explaining the ruling, if you asked those being polled and the public in general what roe v. wade stands for, the general response would be that it stands for the proposition that there is a constitutional right for a woman obtain an abortion, regardless of whether or not one agrees or disagrees with the decision. the tenor of the original post is therefore valid.
 

My point is simply that most people may be unaware that the only way to get the sort of regulation increasing through pregnancy trimester scheme that Roe promised,(But never was intended to permit.) and which the public overwhelmingly supports, IS to appoint justices willing to overturn that constellation of rulings.

I'm not impressed with polls measuring public attitudes about subjects where the public is grossly ignorant, or even possessed of negative knowlege.
 

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