Texans Support Obama On Contraception

As I have said before, Texas is a very red state. No Democrat has held an elective statewide office in more than twenty years. And not only are all statewide elected officials right-wing Republicans, both the Senate and the House in the state legislature have large majorities of right-wing Republicans. And while President Obama easily won re-election nationwide, he lost in Texas by 16 points.

All of that might make a person think that Texans would also back the right-wing positions on contraception (that it should be restricted) and oppose President Obama's position (that all women should have easy access to contraception). But a new poll shows that is not true. While Texans seem to love Republican politicians, they don't care much for the positions those politicians have taken on contraception availability. As the chart above shows, Texans generally support President Obama regarding the easy availability of contraceptives.

The chart was made from results of a poll of 604 Texans by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner between February 6th and 11th (with a 3.99 point margin of error). As it shows, nearly 7 out of every 10 Texans believes it is important for all women, even poor women, to have contraceptives easily available to them. And that support cuts across party lines, with even 50% of the state's Republican supporting that (and the figure rises to 56% among Republican women).

That support also cuts across the predominant religious groups in Texas (with all of the majority percentages being well above the margin of error). Here are those numbers:
Catholic...............68%
Protestant...............65%
Evangelical...............60%
Here are some other interesting results from the survey:

PERCENTAGE BELIEVING THERE SHOULD BE STATE-FUNDED FAMILY PLANNING, INCLUDING BIRTH CONTROL, FOR LOW-INCOME WOMEN.
General public...............73%
Catholic...............70%
Protestant...............73%
Evangelical...............66%

PERCENTAGE WHO OPPOSE THE CUTS MADE TO FAMILY PLANNING AND BIRTH CONTROL PROGRAMS BY THE GOP IN THE LAST LEGISLATIVE SESSION.
General public...............57%
Independents...............53%
Democrats..............74%
Democratic women...............84%
Republicans...............49%
Republican women...............59%

DO YOU SUPPORT OR OPPOSE ALLOWING AN EMPLOYER TO DENY COVERAGE FOR CONTRACEPTIVES IN THEIR EMPLOYEE HEALTH CARE PLAN DUE TO THEIR RELIGIOUS BELIEFS?
Support...............40%
Oppose...............56%

DO YOU SUPPORT OR OPPOSE ALLOWING EMPLOYERS TO DENY COVERAGE IN HEALTH PLANS FOR EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTIVES (LIKE PLAN B) ON RELIGIOUS GROUNDS?
Support...............43%
Oppose...............53%

While they might not put it this way, Texans support the president's actions in making contraceptives easily accessible to all women. And they support it even if it takes state funds to provide poor women that benefit. The state GOP is simply out of step with the majority of Texans on this issue.