pro-choice vs. pro-life states

[ChipGardnerNH]

Could someone make a map with their best guess as to which states have more people in them who are pro-life and which states have more pro-choicers.  If you have any actual polling data, that would be appreciated.  Please colour pro-life states blue and pro-choice states red.  For example, California is a pro-choice state, so it would be coloured red.  Iowa is pro-life and would be coloured blue.  Those are two obvious examples, but some of the other states are not as clear cut and I'm not familiar with the politics of all of them.  Slightly more people in the country are pro-choice, so I would imagine the pro-choice states would add up to over 270 votes, but pro-lifers may be more likely to live in small states, so I'm not sure how it would come out.  Thanks for your help.

[ChipGardnerNH]

The gentleman from Delaware is probably right about New Jersey.  It is pretty recognized as a pro-choice state.  I would imagine Arkansas is pro-life even though they've elected some liberal people like Bill Clinton.  I noticed you mentioned Pennsylvania.  Are you suggesting they are pro-life?  I would guess most of the state is, but some of the suburban areas such as Bucks County are probably more pro-choice.  As far as the rest of the map, I have heard that Alaska is more of a Libertarian state, so they may be pro-choice, but they do vote overwhelmingly Republican for President.  What do you guys think of Delaware.  My home state of New Hampshire would definitely be on the pro-choice side, and most likely Maine would too, though I'm not sure.  I would put West Virginia as pro-life.  Washington state is very secular and is probably more pro-choice.  I would think of Nevada as more of a Libertarian state.  I know the rural parts of the state vote Republican, but I think that is driven more by gun control issues than abortion.  However, what throws me off there is they have Harry Reid as a Senator who is a pro-life Democrat, and they also have the pro-life John Ensign.  

[ChipGardnerNH]

In response to what Cosmo Kramer said from Arkansas, I realize that people are not strictly pro-choice or pro-life, but it goes without saying that pro-life people would support an exception if the life of the mother were in danger.  Even Alan Keyes and Pat Buchanan support that.  Even if you support exceptions for rape or incest like President Bush, I would classify that person as pro-life.  If you oppose partial birth abortion but favor allowing abortions in the first trimester (even when there is NOT rape or incest), I would classify that person as pro-choice.  I would like the maps to be based on the classification that I just layed out.  It seems as if Pennsylvania would be slightly pro-choice but not solidly.  I'm really not sure about Rhode Island.  Some say they are more pro-life, but they voted for Lincoln Chafee (a pro-choice Republican) over a pro-life populist Democrat named Robert Weygand in 2000, so that makes me think they are more Libertarian.

[ChipGardnerNH]

Perhaps we can come to a consensus on certain states and then concentrate on the middle of the road states when it comes to abortion.  If anyone disagrees with the states I'm about to name, let me know.  I would give the pro-lifers Alabama, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia.  I would definitely give the pro-choicers California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington state.  A lot of the libertarian midwestern and western states I'm not really sure about.  I would guess Kansas is more pro-life because Dole was always strong on that issue, and probably the same is true with Nebraska.  I am not sure about New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, Wyoming, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, and Hawaii.  I am also not sure about Arkansas (a religious state in certain ways but also a high divorce rate and the home of Bill Clinton), Delaware (typically a swing state now leaning Democratic, Washington, DC, Florida (mix of Southerners and Northerners), Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New York state, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.

[ChipGardnerNH]

Brownie, that was an interesting poll by SurveyUSA, but I have heard that they're not the most reliable polling company.  Colorado ranks as the second most pro-choice Bush state.  I have always thought of Colorado as being more of a socially liberal state, but what threw me off is the fact that they selected a pro-life Democrat populist Ken Salazar last year against a libertarian Pete Coors.  I would think Coors would be a natural fit for their state, but perhaps he lost because he was too much of an intellectual lightweight.  I recall in one of the debates he said he didn't know who Paul Martin is (he's the Prime Minister of Canada).