Close-up of man casting and inserting a vote and choosing and making a decision what he wants in polling box with United States flag blended in background..
F&M Poll: Republicans and Democrats alike say most Americans support abortion rights; Republicans have advantage on immigration, policing
Poll asked which party is better aligned with most Americans views on 7 issues
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Scott LaMar
Close-up of man casting and inserting a vote and choosing and making a decision what he wants in polling box with United States flag blended in background..
Airdate: June 7th, 2023
Against the backdrop a great divide in the U.S. and Pennsylvania over many issues, Franklin and Marshall College’s Center for Opinion Research conducted a unique poll – asking Pennsylvania voters which party they perceive as being better aligned with majority opinion on seven major issues. The poll didn’t asked voters about their own opinions, but rather what they think other Americans believe.
The issues included abortion, gun control and immigration.
Here are the results of the poll:
| Issue | Democrats | Republicans | Neither | Do not know |
| Abortion | 53% | 25% | 16% | 6% |
| Gun control | 37% | 43% | 16% | 5% |
| Social Security and Medicare | 50% | 29% | 13% | 8% |
| Immigration | 24% | 51% | 18% | 7% |
| Elections | 38% | 36% | 17% | 10% |
| Public safety and policing | 28% | 49% | 17% | 7% |
| Government spending | 26% | 39% | 28% | 7% |
Berwood Yost, Director of the Floyd Institute for Public Policy at the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin & Marshall College was asked why poll voters about other people’s opinions,”We can ask people what their positions are, but it is actually a little more common than you might guess to ask people how they think other people think about an issue. In fact, there’s a whole line of thinking and survey research that instead of that, after you ask someone who they’re going to vote for, then you ask them, Well, who do you think is going to win regardless of how you’re going?”
One of the most significant results of the poll is that even Republicans think the majority of Americans support abortion rights and Yost said that’s a problem for Republican candidates,”Unless some other issue comes into overwhelm, this one where they (Democrats) have an advantage, it suggests perhaps they need to think about their messaging on this issue a bit differently. And until that happens, they’re going to have problems with independent voters and probably weakly attached. Even people who are inclined to favor Republican candidates.”
