With the big election only two weeks away, Mitt Romney has hit another tough spot. This week, in a Tuesday night debate for an Indiana US Senate seat, Richard Mourdock suggested that pregnancies resulting from rape are “something that God intended to happen”, and thus “pre-ordained”. He publicly announced his view that “life begins at contraception”, and that he would support abortions in circumstances where the mother’s life was in danger.
Now, this poses a great dilemma for Republican candidate Romney, who is also a supporter of Mourdock, having made an appearance in an advertisement released on Monday by the Mourdock campaign. If he does not distance himself enough from Mourdock, Romney may find himself facing the cold shoulders of many female voters. Mourdock’s comments may have come at an unfortunate time, just as polls were showing that Romney was beginning to close his gap with women, who have been a firm source of supporter for his Democratic rival, Obama.
However, if he decides to distance himself too much from Mourdock, Romney may lose the support of many evangelical voters, who have viewed him warily in the past. In 2008, polls showed that white Christian evangelicals made up 30 percent of the electoral vote in Ohio, 31 percent in Iowa, 44 percent in North Carolina and 28 percent in Virginia, all states that voted for President Obama in 2008. This year, driven by the desire to have a republican president appoint the members of the Supreme Court, they have shown support for Mitt Romney.
The question is still in the air: What will Romney do? Will he withdraw support from Mr.Mourdock, and possibly distance his evangelical supporters, or will he remain silent, and anger female voters? With the election just around the corner, he will have to make a decision pretty soon.
