WASHINGTON (AFP) — By choosing staunchly pro-life Sarah Palin as his running mate, Republican John McCain has made a risky bet that thrusting the emotional issue of abortion to the front of the White House race will win him more friends than enemies.
The choice of the 44-year-old Christian conservative and mother of five has electrified core Republican voters worried by some of McCain's more moderate policy stances as he secures the party's presidential nomination.
And Palin looks set to draw some support from Democratic women angry over Hillary Clinton's failure to win a place on their party's ticket either as presidential nominee or Barack Obama's running mate.
But while wooing the conservative base is essential to McCain's White House bid, analysts say, putting a spotlight on the abortion issue could alienate many Clinton supporters and independents whose backing is also needed if the Republicans hope to keep their hold on the presidency.
"For our constituency, which is conservative, evangelical Catholics and other faiths, abortion is a key issue in any election, more so in a presidential election," said Carrie Gordon Earll, senior director of public policy at Focus on the Family Action.
"Our constituents are enthusiastic about Palin because not only is she solidly pro-life but she brings a woman's and a mother's perspective to that issue," Earll told AFP.
In a discussion forum on the conservative Christian Broadcast Network, one respondent wrote of their surprise to read reports that said "Christians didn't care if McCain's VP was for abortion -- that is our utmost care."
But Palin has also mobilized the other side of the political spectrum.
Feminist advocacy group, the National Organization for Women (NOW), vowed to be "very strong and aggressive in letting our constituents know that the McCain-Palin ticket would set women back many years," said NOW vice president Olga Vives.
Vives described Palin as an "extremist on the abortion issue."
"She has said that if her daughter were raped that she would encourage her to bring that baby to term. That is a pretty extreme position," she said.
Before Palin's surprise arrival in the presidential race, pollsters said the abortion issue paled in importance behind other voter concerns like the economy, health care and national security.
"Relatively few people make abortion a top priority -- less than 10 percent of the population," said John Greene, a senior fellow at the Pew Forum for Religion and Public Life.
When American voters are asked which issues influence their choice in an election, they have consistently ranked abortion rock-bottom, according to Lydia Saad of the Gallup opinion poll organization.
"When we ask people to rank how important it is that the candidates debate 10-15 issues and how important to how someone votes, abortion is always dead last," Saad, a senior editor at Gallup, told AFP.
And yet, abortion has still managed to play a starring role in US election debates for decades.
"Party foot soldiers will include it prominently in the debate," said Greene of the Pew Forum.
"They will not only attempt to mobilize the small minority that feels strongly about abortion, but may also try to influence a larger group of voters who may react to pro-life or pro-choice appeals."
According to a survey conducted in May by Gallup, 50 percent of American women are pro-choice while 43 percent are pro-life, and roughly the same percentages hold true for the general population.
Most Americans want abortion to remain legal in the first trimester of pregnancy, said Saad.
"That's where the Republican Party is most vulnerable, and the Democrats have a potential strength," she said.
"The Democrats could argue that the McCain-Palin ticket would nominate judges to the Supreme Court that would lead us in the direction of a repeal of Roe versus Wade," the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the United States.
"And most Americans don't want to see Roe-Wade overturned," she said.
The Obama campaign began running ads in swing states this week highlighting McCain and Palin's opposition to abortion.
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