56% to 38%

http://www.freedomdemocrats.org/node/224 >Logan found a helpful survey.

States where pro-life outnumber pro-choice: Indiana, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Idaho, Arkansas, Mississippi, West Virginia, Alabama, Louisiana, Utah, and North Dakota (Tied).

States with a pro-choice majority that voted for Bush: Nevada, Colorado, Alaska, Florida, Wyoming, Arizona, Iowa, New Mexico, Virginia, Montana, Georgia, Ohio, Texas, and Kansas(!?).

States with a pro-life majority that voted for Kerry: None.

What do you think this means for political strategy?

My opinion: For one it’s pretty clear that pro-life people care more about partisanship than pro-choice people. Is it because they care more about the issue than their counterparts, or is it because being pro-life is only a cultural signifier (like say, environmentalism).

My first thought is that looking at this means Democrats should ratchet up the attention given to abortion, not down. If they can make abortion issue #1 in an election, then pro-choice voters will more likely vote based on that, and they only need one or two of those states more to have a nice majority.

But then, I also think abortion should be a matter of democratic decision making, and I find the rhetoric Democrats use regarding a constitutional right makes it more difficult for them to campaign based on this than Republicans.

PS: I think Republicans know these numbers as well as Democrats do, and I find it unlikely Republicans will actually make abortion illegal.