Power

Poll: It’s Not Just Clinton Voters Who Support Funding Planned Parenthood

Fifty-eight percent of likely voters support federal funding for Planned Parenthood, with Trump voters nearly evenly split on the issue.

The pollsters found that 70 percent of Clinton voters favor federal funding of Planned Parenthood. Fifty-eight percent of likely voters support federal funding for Planned Parenthood, with those who say they'll vote for GOP nominee Donald Trump nearly evenly split (48-47) on the issue. a katz / Shutterstock.com

A majority of likely voters support federal funding of Planned Parenthood, and 57 percent of those who say they’re voting for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton also want to end a federal ban on abortion coverage, according to a new Politico poll.

The poll, conducted with a random sample of 1,492 likely voters by Politico and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, assessed support of various health-care issues, including Planned Parenthood and abortion care. The pollsters found that 70 percent of Clinton voters favor federal funding for Planned Parenthood. Fifty-eight percent of all likely voters support federal funding for Planned Parenthood, with those who say they will vote for GOP nominee Donald Trump nearly evenly split (48-47) on the issue.

Along gender lines, 63 percent of female voters and 52 percent of male voters favor continued funding of Planned Parenthood.

The results suggest that Republicans, who have led multiple attempts to gut Planned Parenthood’s federal funding, are largely ignoring the electorate’s broad bipartisan support for the health-care provider.

A poll of battleground states published last month by Public Policy Polling found that a majority of respondents in Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania said they viewed Planned Parenthood positively. At least half of those polled said they were less likely to vote for a candidate who would “defund” the provider.

These responses indicate that voters have not been swayed by a series of anti-choice attack videos falsely accusing Planned Parenthood of profiting from fetal tissue donations.

In the Politico poll, 73 percent of people lacking health insurance supported continued federal funding for Planned Parenthood, which offers a broad range of health-care services, compared to 56 percent of those with health insurance.

The poll also asked respondents about Medicaid funding for abortion care. The Hyde Amendment, an appropriations rider first introduced by Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL), singles out abortion care as the only health service that Medicaid will not cover, except in rare circumstances. People of color and those with low incomes bear the brunt of Hyde’s restrictions.

Ending the Hyde Amendment is, for the first time, part of the Democratic Party’s platform, perhaps explaining why Clinton voters voiced the strongest support for scrapping the federal funding ban. Fifty-seven percent of Clinton voters are in favor of allowing Medicaid funds to be used to pay for abortion care, compared to 36 percent of all likely voters.

Most Trump supporters, 77 percent, oppose Medicaid funding of abortion care.