The vast majority of Americans support abortion reforms opposed by Hillary Clinton, according to a new poll.
A survey of nearly 2,000 people conducted Marist Polling found that 80 percent of all Americans, including nearly 70 percent of self-identified pro-choicers, support some restrictions on abortion. The results put voters at odds with Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton.
Clinton, who supports abortion up to the point of birth and voted against the ban on partial birth abortion, has called for taxpayer funding of abortions, putting her at odds with Americans.
Just days after Planned Parenthood endorsed the former secretary of state, Clinton called for the repeal of the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits direct taxpayer funding of abortion. Nearly 70 percent of respondents, including a majority of abortion supporters, oppose the use of taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions.
Taxpayer funding is not the only issue where Americans want to see reforms. More than 60 percent said that they supported outlawing abortion after 20 weeks—about five months—into pregnancy. Several states have passed similar measures in recent years and Congress passed a 20-week ban in May, though Senate Democrats blocked a vote on it in September. Clinton opposes those restrictions.
A Clinton spokesman did not return request for comment.
Marist teamed with the Catholic fraternal organization Knights of Columbus. Carl Anderson, the organization’s CEO, said that the findings demonstrate that pro-life measures that have been vetoed by President Barack Obama are in the mainstream of American political thought.
"Year in and year out since we began polling on this issue, the American people have understood that the law can protect mother and child alike and have expressed a strong consensus in favor of abortion restrictions," Anderson said in a release.
Clinton has attacked Republicans for pro-life positions in the past. She compared GOP presidential candidates to "terrorist groups" after several called for reforms in the wake of undercover videos showing top Planned Parenthood executives discussing how best to "line-item" and monetize aborted baby body parts.
"Extreme views about women, we expect that from some of the terrorist groups, we expect that from people who don't want to live in the modern world, but it's a little hard to take from Republicans who want to be the president of the United States," Clinton said in August. "They espouse out of date, out of touch policies. They are dead wrong for 21st century America. We are going forward, we are not going back."
Anderson said that the poll shows that the positions espoused by Clinton and other Democrats are much more radical.
"It is time for a new national conversation on abortion—one that begins with this consensus in favor of restrictions: a consensus that American women and men have already reached, and that includes a majority even of those who call themselves pro-choice," he said in the release.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, head of the pro-life fundraising group Susan B. Anthony List, said that the poll reinforces the notion that Clinton is out of step with the average American. Clinton, she said, holds "the most dramatic pro-abortion position espoused by a leading political figure to date." That could pose a problem for Democrats in November.
"Unfortunately for Planned Parenthood and their candidate, the majority of Americans support legislative proposals such as stopping taxpayer funding of abortion and protecting babies and women from late term abortion after five months," Dannenfelser said. "If Clinton wants to use her campaign platform to go to war against popular pro-life positions, we welcome the opportunity to engage and expose her. The American people will reject this level of extremism in November."