Poll: Majority of voters in 13 GOP districts oppose defunding Planned Parenthood

The majority of voters in 13 Republican-held districts oppose defunding Planned Parenthood and the GOP’s ObamaCare replacement bill, a new poll released first to The Hill shows.

The Public Policy Polling survey shows 59 percent of voters in 13 districts won by Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton oppose defunding Planned Parenthood, compared with the 35 percent who support it. 

“These results make it clear that targeting Planned Parenthood – or trying to replace the Affordable Care Act with the American Health Care Act more generally – is politically perilous for these swing district Republican members of Congress,” Public Policy Polling Director Tom Jensen said in a statement.

“Voters in these districts like Planned Parenthood, they like the Affordable Care Act, and efforts to hurt those things will imperil the Republicans in these districts as they look toward reelection next year.”

{mosads}The poll surveyed voters in the districts of GOP Reps. Martha McSally (Ariz.), David Valadao (Calif.), Darrell Issa (Calif.), Mike Coffman (Colo.), Carlos Curbelo (Fla.) Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Fla.), Peter Roskam (Ill.), Kevin Yoder (Kan.), Erik Paulsen (Minn.) Leonard Lance (N.J.), John Faso (N.Y.), Pat Meehan (Pa.) and Barbara Comstock (Va.). 

Many of the targets are so far undecided on the latest version of the GOP healthcare plan. 

The poll shows that the Planned Parenthood issue could play a big role in the 2018 midterm elections.

Fifty-four percent said they would be less likely to vote for their GOP representative if they voted to defund Planned Parenthood, compared with 30 percent who said they would be more likely to support them. 

Language defunding Planned Parenthood is included in the GOP’s ObamaCare replacement plan, known as the American Health Care Act (AHCA), but leadership has struggled to find the majority it needs to pass. 

The same poll showed that the majority of voters in those districts support ObamaCare, 53 percent to 36 percent. 

Meanwhile, the AHCA has 31 percent support across those 13 districts, while 55 percent oppose it. 

The poll surveyed 7,488 registered voters April 26–27 and has a margin of error of 1.1 percentage points. 

The poll, conducted on behalf of Planned Parenthood, is coupled with TV ads that the organization will run in the districts of Curbelo, Meehan, McSally, Issa, Coffman and Roskam.