Poll Says Tennessee Voters Oppose Giving Lawmakers More Power Over Abortion

Tennessee voters generally remain pro-life when it comes to abortion, but 71 percent aren’t so sure about giving lawmakers more power to regulate it, according to a poll conducted by Vanderbilt University.

To be clear, the question didn’t read the exact language of the amendment; it just summarized it and then asked whether voters favored giving the state legislature the constitutional authority to regulate abortions. The actual amendment suggests the same thing but has more nuanced wording:

“Nothing in this Constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of an abortion. The people retain the right through their elected state representatives and state senators to enact, amend, or repeal statutes regarding abortion, including, but not limited to, circumstances of pregnancy resulting from rape or incest or when necessary to save the life of the mother.”

Even among Republicans, who lean pro-life, only a third said yes to the survey question. That could reflect a hesitance to give the government more power, says Vanderbilt associate professor Joshua Clinton.

But he warns against extrapolating these results to the election.

“What happens in November, once this becomes a more salient topic and we start seeing advertising and debate, that’s an open question,” he says.

So far, proponents of the amendment have more advertising potential: They had raised $300,000 by mid-April, according to the Tennessean, while abortion rights advocates had only raised $4,000.

Other Key Poll Results

Vanderbilt University polled 1,245 registered voters in Tennessee.

• Support across the board for Tennessee Promise: 86 percent say they support the governor’s free community college program, which is funded by the state lottery.
• Divided support for Common Core: The new education standards are received along party lines: 76 percent of Democrats approve of it, compared to 44 percent of Republicans.
• A little more favorability toward the Affordable Care Act: Approval for President Obama’s health care plan hit an all-time low last November (likely aided by the botched Healthcare.gov launch), but it’s now up to 21 percent. Among Republicans alone, approval is still at a dismal 5 percent.
• Low recognition of Joe Carr: When Republican primary voters were asked what they thought of Joe Carr, a U.S. Senate candidate running against incumbent Lamar Alexander, more than half said they never heard of Carr. That’s not a good sign for his campaign, Vanderbilt analysts say.

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Correction: A previous version of this story misidentified language used by The Tennessean in regards to fundraising by abortion rights proponents. The Tennessean used the term “abortion rights advocates”, not “abortion advocates”. We’ve made the change to our text.