Planned Parenthood is the most popular American political institution right now

By Renee Davidson | March 23, 2018, 10:02 a.m.

Category: Attacks on Planned Parenthood, Voting

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A new poll surveyed U.S. adults on their feelings on U.S. political figures and institutions. And the most popular institution is…(drum roll, please)…Planned Parenthood!

Conducted March 10-14 by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the poll finds that the majority of U.S. adults hold Planned Parenthood in high esteem. (And it's not the only recent poll attesting to this — even Fox News knows that most Americans stand with Planned Parenthood.) 

According to the NBC/WSJ poll, rounding out the top four most popular American political figures and institutions are the FBI, the #MeToo movement (hurray!), and FBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Ranking among the least popular political figures is President Donald Trump, who set an all-time record for lowest presidential approval rating, beating out the 1975 record set by President Gerald R. Ford. Sad!

The poll confirms that Americans stand with Planned Parenthood...

The results come as no surprise given the trusted relationship that many Americans have with Planned Parenthood. For over a century, Planned Parenthood has fought for the rights of people to control their bodies, to choose if and when to have families, and to decide their own futures. Each year, Planned Parenthood health centers provide millions of patients essential critical reproductive health care services, including birth control, cancer screenings, STD testing and treatment, safe and legal abortion, and more.

...And that anti-women’s health politicians are entirely out-of-touch

Anti-abortion politicians in Congress and state legislatures might say that they represent voters, but the show of public support for Planned Parenthood suggests otherwise. In fact, you can add the NBC/WSJ survey to a long list of polls showing that attacks to reproductive health care are completely at odds with public sentiment. That list includes anti-abortion politicians who:

• repeatedly fight to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) — including its birth control benefit — even when recent polling shows that the ACA is more popular with the public than ever;

• attempt to block federal funding to Planned Parenthood, despite the fact that 75 percent of Americans oppose such cuts;

• fail to pass legislation to protect immigrant youth and their families by supporting a path to citizenship for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, even though 76 percent of voters support such a measure.

Bottom line: It’s clear that Americans share Planned Parenthood’s belief that all people should have access to quality, affordable health care — including safe, legal abortion — regardless of income, insurance, or immigration status. If politicians don’t share these values, then they don’t deserve to represent us.

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