Shifting Winds in Abortion Politics?
'America's Mayor' faces challenge selling conservatives on social issues.
May 8, 2007 — -- Even as Democratic presidential candidates touch the abortion issue gingerly for fear of enraging social conservatives, Republican voters are showing early signs of de-emphasizing the issue in their search for a presidential candidate who can win in 2008.
Two of the top three GOP candidates have records of supporting abortion rights: former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. While Romney has reversed his position and now calls himself "pro-life," Giuliani continues to support abortion rights and, despite this, has maintained a lead in most major polls.
Though not all voters know the intricacies of the candidates' records, early polls suggest at least an initial willingness among Republican primary voters to consider a candidate whose views on abortion verge far from party orthodoxy, said Bruce Buchanan, a government professor at the University of Texas.
"There's some pragmatism at work in their thinking process," Buchanan said. "Because of the general gloom about the prospects of the Republican Party, there's a sense that they may have to go with the horse that could have the best chance" in the general election.
Republican insiders have long taken it as an article of faith that the party's presidential nomination cannot be captured by someone who supports abortion rights. That trend has held going back to 1980, when Ronald Reagan -- a fierce opponent of abortion -- won the first of his two presidential terms.
Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., said on ABC's "This Week" Sunday that a "pro-choice" candidate like Giuliani may be able to neutralize the issue of abortion rights for Republican voters by saying -- as Giuliani has -- that he would appoint only conservative justices to the Supreme Court.
"And God knows we don't want the alternative, being whoever the Democrats have in place," said Tancredo, a 2008 presidential candidate who strongly opposes abortion rights.
The abortion issue may not be as salient as it once was for GOP voters, given the changing political landscape. Last month, a Supreme Court with two new Bush appointees voted five to four to uphold the federal ban on the controversial procedure its opponents call partial-birth abortion, suggesting that the high court is now leaning toward a stronger anti-abortion position, even if it's not quite ready to overturn Roe v. Wade.
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