Polling is poorly understood by most and, believe it or not, it is best understood in horse races. It is worst understood when discussing public policy because all too often the issues are skewed by poorly formed questions and especially in abortion, those polls ask questions that try to draw conclusions about political questions from questions that elicit moral responses.
It shouldn’t be surprising that people differentiate between what should be good public policy and what is moral behavior. While people often hold inconsistent or even silly beliefs, when you probe people can differentiate between the two spheres. The problem is most polls are limited by money and thus, limited in what they can probe. Even beyond that, depending on what comes to mind to an individual will influence their response to a specific question.
Eric Zorn takes Dennis Byrne to task over misusing public opinion polls on abortion.
Yes, but they also show that most people–consistently about 60 percent — feel the abortion decision should be between the woman and her doctor, and that the percentage of people who feel that abortion should legal under any circumstances is always higher than the percentage of people who feel it should always be illegal.
Many people who are for abortion rights are uncomfortable with abortions. That isn’t inconsistent, it is a recognition of living in a complicated world. For a group that wants limited government, conservatives often miss that people place higher barriers to government intervention in their personal lives than in other areas.