The gap between Republicans and Democrats on social issues is considerable: in the latest Economist/YouGov Poll (Week of 1/7/2012) partisans express almost mirror images of each other on issues like same-sex marriage and abortion.
25% of Republican voters favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry — which is now legal in six states. 64% oppose that. Democratic voters take the opposite position: half support legal marriages for same sex couples.
When it comes to abortion, many voters of both parties think there should be at least some regulation, and that not all abortions should be legal. But one in four Republican voters would outlaw all abortions, something fewer than one in ten Democratic voters favor.
Four in ten Democratic voters say all abortions should be legal, a position taken by only 15% of GOP voters.
There is also a gap when it comes to fiscal thinking. 83% of Democratic voters would increase taxes on families earning more than $250,000 a year. Only 29% of Republican voters would. And while both parties’ voters would decrease government spending, only Democratic voters would increase taxes. Nearly six in ten in three GOP voters would decrease them.
Photo source: Press Association
