Which candidate is most mainstream on abortion?

This is one issue where the mainstream media has badly misinformed the public. To some degree Zogby has debunked the Media Myth (and also the "Moderate" Republican Myth) about women insisting on voting for pro-choice candidate. Turns out the women who are so adamant about a candidate's support for abortion rights are a small demographic group making up less than 10% of all female voters: single women 30 and under. The rest are either evenly divided on abortion or slightly lean pro-life, and in any case they tend to choose candidates on other issues like the economy, education and (in this election cycle) terrorism.

The media has been reasonably honest about where the candidates stand on abortion, but very dishonest about where the American people stand. The following rundown will explain where some of the media's dishonest reporting comes from; the rest is just propaganda.

Here is where Americans stand on abortion. All percentages are rounded to the nearest 5 percentage points. When a candidate's position coincides with a particular group, that is where I mention the candidate.

Strong pro-life: 30 percent
About 15 percent believe abortion should be illegal, no exceptions. I have yet to come across a candidate who believes this.

Another 15 percent, myself included, believe abortion should be legal only to save the mother's life. This group would include Michael Peroutka, the Constitution Party candidate. It also would include most pro-life libertarians and some Republicans like Pat Buchanan, Rush "Pinball", and the late Ronald Reagan.

Moderate pro-life: 30 percent
Another 30 percent would add forcible rape and incest to the circumstances where abortion should be legal, and THIS is the mainstream position. Adherents include George W. Bush and his father, Bob Dole and probably the majority of Republicans. Problem is, many voters in this group consider themselves pro-choice because they are concerned a ban on abortion would not include those "hard cases". The mainstream media is more than happy to oblige them, of course, and routinely lumps them in with those who are truly pro-legal abortion. Yet they don't make that error for the candidates. I wonder why....

Moderate pro-choice: 25 percent
Among the pro-choice minority, about 25 percent believe abortion should be legal on demand up to a certain stage of the pregnancy, usually 3 months. After that, they believe abortion only should be legal if the mother's life or physical health (and they don't mean the mother has a headache) is in serious danger. Among the candidates in the 2004 Democratic primary, only Rep. Richard Gephardt even comes close to being in this group. Also, people in this group are divided on both whether and when taxes should be used to pay for abortions.

Strong pro-choice: 5 percent
Some people believe abortion, including partial-birth abortion (PBA), should be legal for all nine months of pregnancy for any reason, but that government should never be allowed to force one person to pay for another person's abortion, through taxation or any other means. This hard-core libertarian position is shared by the Libertarian candidate Michael Badnarik.

Pro-abortion: 10 percent
These are the people who not only believe abortion, including PBA, should be legal for all nine months of pregnancy for any reason, but that taxpayers should be forced to pay for abortion. This group includes John Kerry, Al Gore, "Billary" Clinton, and all the 2004 Democratic primary candidates except Gephardt; and also Ralph Nader, David Cobb, and most Demorats (and "moderate" Republicans) in the Senate. It is also the position held by more than 90% of those who work for the mainstream media: newspaper reporters and editors, TV newscasters, etc. It is the position held by hate groups like the N.O.W., and most disturbingly it is the position held by the United Nations and the European Union.

MM