The issue of the government's role in stem cell research has
found its way into the political spotlight this election year,
grabbing airtime in the presidential debates, energized by
compelling champions on each side: Christopher Reeve and Pope John
Paul II. Until his recent death, Reeve was a vocal proponent of
lowering barriers to stem cell research, while the pope vocally
opposed the practice.
Gallup recently asked Americans what role they would like the
federal government to play in the funding of stem cell research. In
a survey completed on Oct. 10* -- the day of Reeve's death but
before its announcement in the national media -- a plurality of
Americans (41%) say that they would prefer the government to ease
current restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, while a
quarter (24%) would like to keep those restrictions in place.
Similarly small percentages of Americans choose the two most
extreme positions on the issue, with 14% preferring no
government funding of stem cell research, and 14% preferring that
no restrictions be placed on its funding.
Americans' positions on government funding for stem cell
research are clearly partisan. A majority of Democrats (76%) would
like to see the government ease restrictions or do away with them
to allow more stem cell research, while only 12% would like to keep
the current restrictions in place (8% of Democrats would not want
to fund research at all). Republicans, on the other hand, are more
divided between those who would like to expand the research and
those who would like to keep restrictions in place (37% vs.
36%).
The Candidates' Stances
In July 2004, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
issued a press release expressing President George W. Bush's
position on limiting stem cell research. The release states, "The
President is committed to pursuing stem cell research without
crossing a fundamental moral line by providing taxpayer funding
that would sanction or encourage further destruction of human
embryos."
Sen. John Kerry's Web site expounds his position for lifting
current restrictions, saying that a Kerry/Edwards administration
"…will lift the ideologically driven restrictions on stem
cell research that are impeding progress toward cures for millions
of Americans suffering from debilitating diseases …Without
federal funding, the nation's top researchers at universities,
medical schools, and teaching hospitals cannot be part of the work
to find new cures and treatments."
Bottom Line
What impact will the issue of stem cell research have on the
presidential election? In this same survey, Americans were asked
which candidate they felt would do a better job of handling the
issue of stem cell research. Kerry enjoys a 20-point advantage over
Bush, 53% vs. 33%.
*
These results are based on telephone interviews with a
randomly selected national sample of 1,015 adults, aged 18 and
older, conducted Oct. 9-10, 2004. For results based on this sample,
one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum error attributable
to sampling and other random effects is ±3 percentage
points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and
practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or
bias into the findings of public opinion polls.
