Abortion is top issue for 17% of voters

Seventeen percent of U.S. voters asked they will vote only for candidates for major office who share their views on abortion, a Gallup poll indicates.

The Gallup poll conducted Sept. 24-27 found 45 percent of respondents said abortion would be one of many important factors they consider while 34 percent said they didn’t see abortion as a major issue.

Twenty-one percent of anti-abortion rights voters versus 15 percent of abortion-rights supporters said they would vote only for a candidate that shared their abortion views. The 9 percent of the anti-abortion rights voters and 7 percent of the abortion rights voters give a slight anti-abortion tilt that could potentially benefit anti-abortion Republican candidate Mitt Romney, Gallup officials said.

The survey of 1,446 U.S. adults — 1,301 registered voters — has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

Copyright 2012 by United Press International