WASHINGTON – A post-election poll of voters in the 2020 election found that the issue of abortion once again played a key role in the presidential and congressional elections, and that National Right to Life and its state affiliates were key to getting out the pro-life vote for pro-life candidates.
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.
These poll results show that the pro-life vote was a major factor in crushing the “blue wave” from state legislatures to Congress. Overall, National Right to Life’s political committees were actively involved in 123 races, including the presidential race. In those races, 78 (68%) pro-life candidates prevailed, including pro-life Senate candidates in Alabama, Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas. A total of seven House races have yet to be called.
The two Georgia Senate races, in which National Right to Life were actively involved for Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, are still outstanding and will be decided in a January 5, 2021 runoff election. Both candidates have been endorsed by National Right to Life and its political committees plan to be heavily involved in the runoff election.
Despite being vastly outspent by pro-abortion organizations such as Planned Parenthood and EMILY’s List, pro-life candidates won last Tuesday by significant margins. There were 58 races in which a candidate supported by National Right to Life was running against a candidate supported by the pro-abortion PAC EMILY’s List. Forty (or 71%) of the National Right to Life-supported candidates won. Two races remain outstanding, with the pro-life candidate currently leading in both.
“The abortion issue has played a key role in every major election since Ronald Reagan won the presidency in 1980,” said Carol Tobias, National Right to Life president. “As we witnessed last Tuesday, in election after election, National Right to Life, with its network of 50 state affiliates and more than 3,000 local chapters, helped provide the margin of victory for pro-life candidates.”
Polling also found that voters heard and saw the right-to-life message in the days leading up to the election. The poll found that 31.9% (or approximately 45 million voters) recalled receiving, hearing, or seeing information or advertising from National Right to Life. National Right to Life’s state affiliates were also actively involved in voter outreach for the election. Twenty-one percent recalled receiving information or hearing advertising from a right-to-life group in their state. Voters also recalled other pro-life groups that were involved in the election: 7.3% recalled hearing or receiving information about candidates from Susan B. Anthony List; 8.2% recalled hearing or receiving information about candidates from Women Speak Out PAC; and 10.3% recalled hearing of seeing information from Americans United for Life.
National Right to Life mailed more than 7.4 million brochures detailing the positions of the candidates on issues of importance to the right-to-life movement to identified, pro-life, registered voter households in key races. More than 5 million voters were reached via social media. Nearly 2 million calls were made to pro-life households in the days leading up to the election with a reminder to vote for the pro-life candidate in their area. In addition, more than 58,000 pro-life radio ads were aired on over 3,000 stations.
The poll of 1,000 actual voters was conducted by McLaughlin & Associates, November 2-3, 2020, and has a margin of error of +/-3.1%.
About National Right to Life
Founded in 1968, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of 50 state right-to-life affiliates and more than 3,000 local chapters, is the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. Recognized as the flagship of the pro-life movement, NRLC works through legislation and education to protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide and euthanasia.
Involved in every election since Ronald Reagan’s election to the presidency, National Right to Life Political Action Committee was formed in 1979 as the political arm of National Right to Life. The National Right to Life Victory Fund, an independent expenditure political action committee founded in 2012, is dedicated to electing pro-life leaders to the White House and Congress.