NRLC affiliates played a major role in U.S. Senate takeover

WASHINGTON – A new post-election poll of actual voters conducted by The Polling Company/ WomanTrend, found that the issue of abortion once again played a key role in the mid-term elections, and that National Right to Life and its state affiliates were key to getting out the pro-life vote for pro-life candidates.

Twenty-three percent of voters said that the abortion issue affected their vote and voted for candidates who oppose abortion. This compares to just 16% who said abortion affected their vote and voted for candidates who favor abortion, yielding a 7% advantage for pro-life candidates.

These poll results help explain the victories experienced by the right-to-life movement in Tuesday’s elections. National Right to Life’s political committees were actively involved in 74 races. In those races, 53 (72%) pro-life candidates prevailed, including pro-life Senate candidates in Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Montana, North Carolina, South Dakota, and West Virginia.

 Two of the Senate races in which National Right to Life was actively involved are still outstanding. In Alaska, pro-life Dan Sullivan has what appears to be an insurmountable lead over pro-abortion Sen. Mark Begich, and in Louisiana, pro-life Rep. Bill Cassidy is considered the frontrunner in a December run-off election against pro-abortion incumbent Sen. Mary Landrieu.

Despite being vastly outspent by pro-abortion organizations such as Planned Parenthood and EMILY’s List, pro-life candidates won Tuesday by significant margins. There were 26 races in which a candidate supported by National Right to Life was running against a candidate supported by the pro-abortion PAC EMILY’s List. Nineteen (73%) of the National Right to Life-supported candidates won.

The poll also found that voters heard and saw the right-to-life message in the days leading up to the election. Fully 28% of voters recalled receiving, hearing, or seeing information or advertising from National Right to Life. Seventeen percent recalled receiving information or hearing advertising from the National Right to Life affiliate in their state.

The poll of 806 actual voters was conducted by The Polling Company/Woman Trend, November 4, 2014, and has a margin of error of +/-3.5%.

Minnesota strengthens pro-life majority in state House

Tuesday’s election yielded mixed results in Minnesota. On the positive side, voters enlarged the pro-life majority in the Minnesota House of Representatives.

he 134-member chamber gained 10 additional pro-life members as the Republican Party took control of the House from the Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party. No Minnesota Senate seats were on the ballot in 2014.

Unfortunately, pro-abortion Gov. Mark Dayton was reelected along with his running mate Tina Smith, a former vice president of Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota. Smith has been Dayton’s chief of staff for the last four years.

;Soon after becoming governor in 2011, Dayton made a pledge to the abortion industry that he would stop every pro-life bill from becoming law. He has since vetoed all seven pro-life measures passed by the Legislature, including a ban on taxpayer funding of abortion.

A Minnesota Supreme Court decision requires taxpayers to fund elective abortions performed on low-income women. Dayton’s challenger, pro-life Jeff Johnson, had a strong pro-life record as a Minnesota House member and a 100 percent pro-life response to the candidate questionnaire of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL).

Among the state’s candidates for federal offices, three pro-life congressional incumbents — U.S. Reps. John Kline, Erik Paulsen and Collin Peterson — were re-elected. All have extremely strong pro-life records in Congress. Pro-life Tom Emmer was also elected to the seat vacated by retiring U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann.

The state’s four pro-abortion members of Congress were also re-elected. However, pro-life Stewart Mills waged a very strong campaign against pro-abortion U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan in the state’s 8th District. Mills lost by less than 1.5 percent on Tuesday.

Voters also returned pro-abortion comedian Al Franken to the U.S. Senate. After winning by just 312 votes in 2008, Franken was challenged by pro-life Mike McFadden. A series of ugly ads against McFadden and Mills, filled with dubious accusations unrelated to the issues at stake in the election.