Romney Took Abortion Stance Based On Poll

Taegan Goddard notes that Mitt Romney’s stance on abortion when he ran for governor of Massachusetts was based on what a pollster told him. This is detailed in a new book by Ronald Scott, Mitt Romney: An Inside Look at the Man and His Politics. Byron York reports:

According to Scott, Romney revealed that polling from Richard Wirthlin, Ronald Reagan’s former pollster whom Romney had hired for the ’94 campaign, showed it would be impossible for a pro-life candidate to win statewide office in Massachusetts. In light of that, Romney decided to run as a pro-choice candidate, pledging to support Roe v. Wade, while remaining personally pro-life.

In November 1993, according to Scott, Romney said he and Wirthlin, a Mormon whose brother and father were high-ranking church officials, traveled to Salt Lake City to meet with church elders. Gathering in the Church Administration Building, Romney, in Scott’s words, “laid out for church leaders … what his public position would be on abortion — personally opposed but willing to let others decide for themselves.”

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.