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Ed. Note: The following
is a press release from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
New York, November 17, 2004 – In stark contrast to generally held
perceptions, stem cell research is widely supported by those who voted to
re-elect the President, according to a poll made public today by the
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. In fact, the study showed, a
greater percentage of President Bush’s 2004 voters polled support
embryonic stem cell research than oppose it, and would favor a broadened
policy for federal funding of scientific investigation using embryonic
stem cells that would otherwise be discarded from fertility clinics.
In a national survey of 800
self-identified Bush voters conducted on November 12-14, 2004, 52% said
they strongly support (31%) or somewhat support (21%) medical research
using stem cells obtained from human embryos that are frozen in fertility
clinics five days after an egg has been fertilized, have been donated by
the parents, and will be discarded of they are not donated. By contrast,
42% are either strongly opposed (32%) or somewhat opposed (10%).
Just as important, the poll
showed, self-identified Bush voters rank embryonic stem cell research low
on the list of issues they took into consideration when deciding whether
to re-elect the President. Only 2% of voters polled identified embryonic
stem cell research as the most important factor, ranking it far behind
fighting terrorism (16%), the war in Iraq (13%), abortion (12%), national
defense (12%), the economy (8%), gay marriage (7%) judicial appointments
(6%), and taxes (5%).
“What is most surprising is the
range of opinion within American voters who have identified themselves as
supporters of President Bush when it comes to understanding and supporting
embryonic stem cell research,” said Peter Van Etten, President and Chief
Executive Officer of JDRF. “While these voters are portrayed as being
unanimously and vehemently opposed to expanding scientific investigation
using stem cells, the results of this poll indicate that facts are very
different from the perception; in fact, more supporters of the President
polled already approve of embryonic stem cell research than oppose it, and
a majority would approve expanding it.”
The results of the JDRF-sponsored
poll were also surprising concerning the outlook of those who supported
the President’s re-election when it came to a possible expansion of the
current Administration position on federal funding for embryonic stem cell
research. When asked if they would support an expansion of President
Bush’s policy on embryonic stem cell research, a 55% majority agreed that
the policy should be broadened, compared with only 38% who felt the policy
should remain the same.
Respondents to the JDRF-sponsored
poll all (100%) voted to re-elect the President; and the majority either
voted for all Republicans (32%) or for most Republican candidates (46%) on
their ballots. These voters consider themselves very conservative (32%) or
somewhat conservative (45%); and are either strongly pro-life (57%) or
somewhat pro-life (10%). A majority of these voters also attend religious
services regularly (21% more than once a week, and 34% at least once a
week). The majority of respondents were between the ages of 35 and 54
(43%), with 50% of the total men and 50% women. A strong majority of
these voters live in a rural or small town (42%) and come mostly from the
South, representing 39% of those polled, followed by the Midwest (26%),
the West (20%), and the Northeast (16%).
JDRF was founded in 1970 by the
parents of children with juvenile (Type 1) diabetes – a disease that
strikes suddenly, makes them insulin-dependent for life, and carries the
constant threat of devastating complications. The world’s leading
charitable funder and advocate of research leading to a cure, JDRF has
provided more then $800 million to diabetes research worldwide, including
approximately $300 million over the past three year alone. Consistently
one of the top-rated foundations, more than 80 percent of JDRF’s annual
expenditures directly support research and research-related education.
Complete Poll Results
For More Information Contact
Peter Cleary, JDRF Media Relations Director
Phone: (212) 479-7553; email
pcleary@jdrf.org
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