A majority of Floridians remain pro-choice on abortion, but a new poll shows the Sunshine State is more divided over Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood has been in the news in recent weeks after a series of secretly recorded videos in which it appears officials from that group are selling fetal tissue.
Quinnipiac University released a poll on Monday which shows 53 percent of Florida voters want abortion legalized in all or most situations while 40 percent of those surveyed oppose it in most or all cases. While 21 percent of those surveyed think abortion should be legalized in all cases, 11 percent of Florida voters oppose abortion in all situations.
After the recent controversies, Florida voters are divided on Planned Parenthood, with 42 percent of those surveyed seeing the group as favorable while 40 percent view it in an unfavorable light.
Asked if the federal government should cut funds to Planned Parenthood, 42 percent say it should while 48 percent oppose the idea. The poll finds major gender and political gaps on cutting federal funding to Planned Parenthood. Men break for cutting federal funds with 49 percent behind the idea and 41 percent against it. But a majority of women -- 53 percent -- oppose the cuts while 36 percent support it.
Democrats strongly oppose cutting federal funds to Planned Parenthood, with 80 percent of them against the idea and only 9 percent supporting the cuts. Two-thirds of Republicans -- 67 percent -- support cutting off federal funds to Planned Parenthood while almost a quarter of them -- 24 percent -- oppose cutting funds. Voters outside the major parties are far more divided, with 44 percent wanting to cut off federal funds while 47 percent want to keep funding.
The poll of 1,093 Florida voters was taken from Aug. 7-18 and had a margin of error of +/- 3 percent.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
