TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Much of the electoral rocket fuel that has propelled Dr. Ben Carson to number one in the latest national polls comes courtesy of a bloc of Evangelical voters who support the former neurosurgeon because he tirelessly defends the unborn.
He calls abortion “The Literal Enemy of Our Children”–at least, that’s how Dr. Carson began talking about the issue of life in his latest book: A More Perfect Union, What We the People Can Do to Reclaim Our Constitutional Liberties.
“Financial stability and education will do our children no good if they are not alive to experience them,” Carson wrote in his latest New York Times best-seller.
When asked what he would do as U.S. president to support the Constitutional rights of the unborn, Dr. Carson said, “First of all, I would use the bully pulpit to talk about the culture of life.”
Dr. Carson also said that he would appoint judges and justices with records that include rulings that were in favor of protecting the unborn.
My face-to-face interview with Dr. Carson came during a stop in Tallahassee, Florida on his 38-city book tour. Nearly 2,000 men, women, and, children stood in line for hours Monday waiting to have their favorite Ben Carson books signed by the newly-crowned Republican front runner.
Two months ago, I asked Dr. Carson why he is running. He said getting elected U.S. president wasn’t on his “bucket list.” He also said it was “the passion in people’s eyes and in their voices” that made him “recognize that there are an awful lot of people that are really frightened about the direction of our country.”
Seeing the hundreds of adoring Carson devotees compelled me to ask the retired neurosurgeon if the packed bookstores and crowd arenas have emboldened him.
“There’ve been so many people who’ve come up to me saying, ‘You’re our last hope,'” Dr. Carson said. “And I do recognize why they feel that way. They are afraid that we are becoming less of a country for, of, and by the people and more of a country for the government.”
According to the latest CBS News/New York Times poll, 26 percent of GOP voters support Dr. Ben Carson, putting him at number one among all Republican presidential candidates.