Recently an anti-abortion group tried to help the congressional Republicans bring down Planned Parenthood by issuing a heavily-edited film of the group. That editing made it look like Planned Parenthood does abortions so they can make money by selling "baby parts" to researchers. Of course, it is an outrageous LIE! Planned Parenthood does not do any such thing! They have never profited in the past by doing this, and they won't profit in the future.
Has this odious and unethical action been successful in turning the public against Planned Parenthood? In a word, NO. Planned Parenthood still has significantly more support among the general public than opposition. If the Republicans were hoping this would make it so they could campaign against Planned Parenthood in the coming general election, then they have failed.
There is currently a 14 point gap, with those viewing Planned Parenthood favorable topping those who view it unfavorably. Only two groups show a higher unfavorable than favorable -- Republicans and those 65 years old and older. All other groups show support for Planned Parenthood.
The chart above was made from information provide by a recent YouGov Poll -- done between July 30th and August 2nd of a random national sample of 1,000 adults, with a margin of error of 4 points.
This goes along with what I thought: the people for whom the "sting" videos matter are the people who already hated Planned Parenthood. I noted this again when I live blogged the first (Monday) Republican debate. The Republicans definitely are overplaying this, because it doesn't mean anything outside their bubble. The data are interesting. Who hate Planned Parenthood? The demographics who watch Fox News. And the fact that they have been pimping this story hard probably explains 90% of any effect that the videos have had.
ReplyDeleteBut this whole story has had me really angry for the last month. At first I thought it was just a joke. But then, as ever, the mainstream media insisted upon reporting it like it was something real. If the media was half as worried about reporting the truth as it is about not being called biased by the conservatives, we would live in a far better country.
It's not just this issue that they are talking inside their bubble on. And we need to make sure the things they are saying now cannot be altered in the general election.
ReplyDeleteOnce again the over 65 and Republican crowd is out of step with the rest of the country. This is the same gang that gave us The Worst American of All-Time, Reagan and sent us marching to the bottom. I will not be sad to see them go. The sooner the better.
ReplyDeleteIf I had the money I'd start a 24 hour news channel aimed at this demographic and focused on the GOP's war on Social Security and Medicare.