Common Questions

Statistics and Surveys Can Be Misleading - and Even Wrong

Surveys can produce misleading results because of the way questions are framed. For example, national polls often claim to show that about half the population supports keeping abortion legal with few restrictions. Perhaps that's because of the way questions are asked. RCRC framed our questions differently, and we got different results.

We found that the vast majority of Americans of all faiths agree with RCRC positions. For example, three-quarters of those polled agree that abortion is a personal decision for women, who are often guided by their religious beliefs and values. Seventy-eight percent reject government intrusion in decisions about bearing children. Large majorities want comprehensive sexuality education to be available in schools, comprehensive reproductive health services to be available in hospitals, and family planning services to be available to all, regardless of income.

Religion has a major impact on attitudes about reproductive choice.
In a time when America is increasingly religious, Americans think that religious beliefs are important in any decision about abortion. The majority says that the stance of their own religion and church or synagogue is of personal importance. Yet despite strong religious attachments, more than half would follow their beliefs over the teachings of their church or synagogue if a conflict arose.

Across religions, people will protect a woman’s right to choose.
Voters reject the notion of abortion as “wrong.” Only slightly more than one-third believe there are clear right and wrong answers that overshadow individual beliefs and circumstances. The majority thinks that abortion is too complex and personal for simple answers. The majority also thinks that religion is often used inappropriately to generate political opposition to abortion. The majority would not deprive women of the right to choose even if they themselves would not have an abortion (except for those who identify themselves as born-again Christians). Even a third of anti-choice voters are willing to protect the right to choose for others.

Many Americans do not know religions are pro-choice.
After years of Religious Right misinformation, more than one-quarter of voters think all religions oppose a woman’s right to choose; that belief is factually incorrect. Despite that finding, large majorities agree with basic Religious Coalition positions:
• a person can be both religious and pro-choice (78% agree)
• a person must follow her own faith, personal beliefs, and conscience in a matter like abortion (80% agree).

About half of Americans believe abortion should be legal; that figure has not changed substantially in many years. When the issue of abortion is presented as a personal, moral issue it gains significant support:

67% agreed that: Women should be able to make their own decisions about whether or not to have an abortion.
68% agreed that: I may choose not to have an abortion, but I would not take that choice away from other women.
74% agreed that: “Abortion is a complex issue that is better left in the hands of a woman, her doctor, her family and her God.”
80% agreed that: “A person must follow her own faith, personal beliefs, and conscience in a matter like abortion.”

Americans support sexuality education.
Across religions, voters favor comprehensive sexuality education in schools (emotional, social, and physical aspects of sexuality, including abstinence), including 59% of anti-choice voters, 73% of Catholics, 57% of Baptists, and 67% of fundamentalists and evangelicals. All groups believe their church/synagogue supports sexuality education as well.

Posted November 4, 2009