Abortion and the 2008 Presidential Election

Patchwork Nation blog (Christian Science Monitor): On Abortion Issue, Obama may have an edge, by Dante Chinni:

Abortion, long a divisive issue in American politics, has not played a large role in the 2008 presidential campaign up to now. Neither candidate has been eager to promote it.

But the issue isn’t going away. There are voters for whom abortion will always be a crucial issue. At some point – during the party platform discussions or the debates – the candidates will field questions on where they stand...

The 11 community types in Patchwork Nation were analyzed using questions about abortion from a 2004 Annenberg survey – the latest county-by-county data available on the topic. The analysis found that most people seem to be opposed to more restrictions on abortion – particularly voters in battleground communities.