Hart Research Associates has released a poll showing Planned Parenthood has the support of a majority of likely voters in several battleground states in the 2016 election.
The poll was conducted on behalf of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. According to the poll, 66 percent of voters in New Hampshire, 65 percent in Ohio, and 69 percent in Pennsylvania oppose efforts to defund Planned Parenthood.
Katie Franklin, the director of communications for Ohio Right to Life, told The Daily Signal “it’s not surprising that a poll bought and paid for by Planned Parenthood would come out with such slanted results.”
During a conference call with reporters, Dawn Laguens, executive vice president and chief experience officer of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund and Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said the poll is proof “voters continue to stand strongly with Planned Parenthood.”
Laguens called the undercover videos released by the Center for Medical Progress depicting Planned Parenthood senior executives discussing the sale of fetal organs a “manufactured controversy.”
The poll surveyed 502 likely voters in New Hampshire, 501 in Ohio, and 504 in Pennsylvania.
During the conference call, spokespersons for Planned Parenthood confirmed that the participants in the poll were not asked about their feelings on diverting funds that currently go to Planned Parenthood to other women’s health providers.
Ohio Right to Life’s Franklin said that during the 2014 election, “Planned Parenthood lost big in Ohio.”
To get the real lay-of-the-land in Ohio, all you have to do is look at election 2014 when pro-life Gov. John Kasich won 86 out of 88 counties after reprioritizing funding away from Planned Parenthood. These phenomenal results came despite his opponent’s alarmist efforts to invoke the ‘war on women’ throughout his entire campaign. The losing pro-abortion ticket even bore the name of a former Planned Parenthood board member as candidate for lieutenant governor. Still more significant is the fact that in head-to-head battles with Planned Parenthood endorsed candidates, 79 percent of Ohio Right to Life endorsed candidates won their races.
“It’s lunacy to imagine that a scandal of this magnitude—exposing the corporation for selling aborted babies’ body parts—would give them any kind of advantage,” she added.
Emily Buchanan, the vice president of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List, told The Daily Signal that “the poll released by Planned Parenthood is nothing more than a Planned Parenthood press release.”
“This strategy is typical of a group in desperate trouble,” Buchanan said. “The arguments to defund Planned Parenthood are much deeper and broader than this poll suggests. The poll makes no mention that there is already an investigation into the sale and use of fetal organs and body parts.”
“Additionally, the poll makes no mention that the same health services for women could be maintained by clinics that do not perform abortions,” she continued. “In this poll, Planned Parenthood presents itself as the only option for women’s health services; while we know that according to data there are over 9,000 federally qualified health centers that provide women’s health services and do not perform abortions.”
According to a recent Monmouth University poll, 37 percent of Americans “have a positive opinion of Planned Parenthood,” 26 percent have an “unfavorable view,” and 34 percent do not have an opinion.
The Monmouth poll also found that 39 percent of Americans support defunding Planned Parenthood while 49 percent say they should continue to receive funds. Forty-two percent of registered voters support ending taxpayer funds to Planned Parenthood, and 47 percent oppose defunding Planned Parenthood.
According to the Monmouth poll, 53 percent of Americans “have not heard about” the videos released by the Center for Medical Progress.