(Newser)
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Todd Akin certainly upped his profile when he made his now-infamous comments about "legitimate rape": A full 83% of registered voters are aware of the comments, despite the fact that Akin wasn't a national name before he made them, according to a new Public Policy Poll. And 85% of respondents said they disagree with Akin's assertion (on which he has since, of course, backtracked), while 4% agree, Talking Points Memo reports. Elsewhere in the post-Akin landscape:
- A Dutch parliament candidate who opposes abortion even in cases of rape also agrees with Akin, the AP reports. "The chance of pregnancy is very small" after a rape, Kees van der Staaij said today.
- And last week Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch weighed in on Akin's words, first harshly decrying them before immediately appearing to do a 180, Gawker reports. "Rape is a rape. I don't know how you can categorize it, and it's disgusting that Todd Akin would have tried to categorize it," she said. Then, informed that Paul Ryan co-sponsored a bill with Akin that apparently sought to categorize rape, she replied: "Well, I think there is a way to have a more forcible rape, the same way there are different types of assault."
