Is Pro-Choice Automatically a Vote for Hillary?

Pro-choice. Pro-life. Have the two parties in the U.S. divided themselves into these views? Based on Pew Research, “Democrats are much more likely than Republicans to say abortion should be legal in all or most cases” (Lipka). Pollard’s article on his study to explain and understand the 2016 election focuses on what types of people with different demographics were in favor of voting for, or not voting for. Trump was pushed to victory mainly by those who “express resentment toward African-Americans and immigrants. And who tend to evaluate whites more favorably than minority groups” (Pollard 9) We also see that “males are more likely to prefer Republican candidates, and married women prefer Donald Trump more than unmarried women” (Pollard 9). Pollard also shows that “women are also 90% less likely to have favorable views of Trump than men are” (9).

Has Trump’s view on abortion and Clinton’s pro-choice campaign further divided the two parties’ views on this issue? Have endorsements from interest groups with clear stances on abortion influenced the parties? The “1984 party platforms maintained and further strengthened the parties’ different positions on abortion, laying the groundwork for the parties’ current contrasting stands on the issue” (Carmines et al pp. 1139-1140). It is also shown by Pew Research Center that “84% of liberal Democrats say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, compared with only three in ten self-described conservatives in the GOP”. As we can see this is a significant difference in those far left and far right, but it is also shown that “public opinion on abortion has held relatively steady, with Americans roughly divided on the issue”.
This 2016 election we see no difference in the Democratic party candidate being pro-choice and the Republican party candidate being pro-life. Even Planned Parenthood, the biggest women’s reproductive rights interest group that has joined the fight against those trying to control women’s rights, “endorsed Hillary Clinton in this year’s Democratic primary, taking sides for the first time before the general election” (Gibson).
It can be shown that those in favor of women’s rights and for the government to stop trying to control what a woman does to her body have supported Hillary Clinton this year in the election. Those pro-choice have more likely been on the Republican party’s side, Trump.

Is it safe to assume that people’s stance on abortion has decided which party to vote for? This is quite a stretch, it may not be the reason why but it definitely plays a part in people’s decisions if this topic of conversation affects them. If this topic directly affects, or is of interest to a voter it is likely they have chosen the side that benefits them and their views.