Page 842 – Family Council

Americans Want Stricter Limits on Abortion: CBS Poll

Jun 11, 2020Jerry CoxAbortionAbortion, Life, Pro-life, Sanctity of Human Life

A recent poll by CBS News shows most Americans want stricter limits on abortion, or they want abortion ended altogether.

Pollsters asked people if abortion should be generally available to those who want it, available but under stricter limits than it is now, or not permitted at all.

Overall, 31% said abortion needed stricter limits, and 24% said abortion should not be permitted at all.

In other words, 55% of Americans surveyed believe abortion ought to be either completely illegal or legal under fewer circumstances than it currently is.

Forty-two percent said they would not be able to support a candidate who doesn’t share their views on abortion.

Interestingly, the survey under-represented Republicans. Democrats who responded to the CBS survey outnumbered Republicans by about 37%. In light of that, it’s possible that the percentage of Americans who want abortion restricted or abolished actually is higher than these polling numbers reflect.

This is just another poll demonstrating that Americans don’t support abortion on demand.

Time and again we have seen surveys that show most Americans believe abortion ought to be completely illegal or legal only under certain circumstances. Arkansans in particular oppose abortion.

These numbers just go to show that slowly but surely we are winning the fight to protect innocent human life.

You can read the poll results and see the survey questions and responses here.

Arkansas Lottery Spends Little on Scholarship Despite Best Month Ever

Jun 10, 2020Jerry CoxArkansas LotteryArkansas Lottery

The Arkansas Lottery spent very little on college scholarships in May, despite having what appears to be the Lottery’s best single month ever.

According to its latest report, the Arkansas Lottery made a staggering $61.1 million last month.

For comparison, the Lottery averaged about $41 – $42 million in revenue per month prior to May.

Despite making so much money, the Lottery paid only $8.6 million to college scholarships — about 14% of the Lottery’s revenue.

Seventy percent of Arkansas Lottery revenue went to prizes. That’s nearly $43 million!

For perspective the typical state lottery pays about 30% of its revenue to education and budgets about 60% of its revenue for prizes.

Because the Arkansas Lottery budgets so much money for prizes and so little for education, the Lottery has failed to live up to its promise to provide $100 million per year in funding for college scholarships.

As we have written before, it’s telling that lottery ticket sales in Arkansas surged amid the COVID-19 pandemic just as people received economic stimulus checks from the government.

In other words, there’s a very good possibility Arkansans spent their unemployment checks and federal stimulus money on lottery tickets.

The Arkansas Lottery also has continued to rely heavily on scratch-off tickets despite the fact that scratch-off tickets are closely linked with problem gambling and gambling addiction.

Below is a breakdown of Arkansas Lottery ticket sales and scholarship funding so far this fiscal year.

Month	Gross Lottery Revenue	Paid to Scholarships	% Gross Revenue
July	$41,239,173.79	$4,523,930.75	11.0%
August	40,899,086.75	4,942,736.97	12.1%
September	36,202,677.79	6,565,973.32	18.1%
October	38,932,640.23	6,318,099.21	16.2%
November	36,118,641.12	5,947,177.45	16.5%
December	46,134,469.21	6,371,983.49	13.8%
January, 2020	40,802,067.75	8,239,083.77	20.2%
February	40,670,746.71	7,233,556.77	17.8%
March	47,876,969.85	7,386,497.30	15.4%
April	49,549,754.16	8,318,312.64	16.8%
May	61,129,306.96	8,619,106.39	14.1%
Total	$479,555,534.32	$74,466,458.06	15.5%