WASHINGTON, D. C.– A record- great 32 % of U. S. voters say they would simply ballot for a candidate for key office who shares their views on abortion. Pro-choice voters have significantly increased their opinion of a candidate’s pregnancy position in the election cycle, while pro-life voters ‘ enthusiasm for the problem has decreased.  , Moreover, citizens ‘ greater depth on the matter immediately compared with 2020 is explained largely by Liberals, while Republicans and politicians have shown little change.
Americans who support abortion are also significantly more good than two decades ago to suggest it is important that any upcoming Supreme Court nominees share their opinions on the subject.
These findings come two decades after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization , leaked draft choice foretold the judge’s plan to dismantle legal protection for pregnancy.
At the same time, Gallup finds that Americans ‘ support for abortion rights and recognition as “pro-choice” holding at historically high levels since the Dobbs decision was leaked.
These results are from Gallup’s monthly Values and Beliefs surveys, conducted May 1- 23.
Abortion’s Value as Voting Issue Up, Mainly Among Pro- Choice Citizens
At least once in each presidential election cycle since 1992, Gallup has assessed a president’s views on contraception among registered voters in the United States. The current 32 % of voters who say they wo n’t vote for a candidate who shares their views have increased by four percentage points since last May and by eight points since 2020.
Meanwhile, a diminished plurality of voters, 45 % ( down 11 points from last year ), consider abortion to be just one of many important factors, the lowest reading since 2012. Another 19 % (up five points ) claim that it is not a significant issue for them, which is their third consecutive reading below 20 % and significantly below those taken between 1992 and 2020.
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A study of voters ‘ responses to this question based on their position on abortion reveals that pro-choice individuals stand to gain more from single-issue abortion voters than pro-life individuals. Specifically, nearly twice as many pro- choice voters ( 40 % ) as pro- life voters ( 22 % ) say they will only vote for a candidate who agrees with them on abortion. This is the fourth consecutive season for pro-life electors in the U.S. to surpass pro-choice voters, which means there has been a reverse of the pro-life edge between 1996 and 2020.
Due to these changes, 32 % of registered voters now vote for candidates who support abortion, up from 23 % who support abortion and 8 % who support life. ( Another 1 % do n’t identify with either label. )
Before 2022, the pro-life aspect of the election was more prevalent. No more than 10 % of voters declared themselves pro-choice and would only support candidates who shared those beliefs during this time; only 13 % of voters declared themselves pro-life and would only support candidates who shared the same views.
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The rise in pro-choice voters who say they prioritize the issue in election may have helped Democrats slam Republicans ‘ presumptive gains in the 2022 midterm election, giving the party an even greater benefits today. One thing to remember is that all of the voter boost since that time has been among Democrats who have declared they will only help applicants who share their position on abortion. A slight majority of Democratic registered voters ( 52 % ) now say this, up from 37 % in 2022.
In a time of hyper-partisanship and where candidates typically align with their party’s location on the abortion issue, it’s unlikely that who Democrats vote for will have an impact on how they vote, but it might support Democrats get in the lead. In addition, the focus on the issue by independents and Republicans has been steady at just over 20 %.
More assert that the Supreme Court’s decision to nominees ‘ pregnancy rate is significant.
How the possible options of presidential candidates ‘ nominees for Supreme Court nominees may affect U.S. rules on the subject is one way that abortion is likely to be discussed in the plan. The appointment of three justices in his term, who all voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, demonstrated how abortion policy can be impacted by presidential elections.  , A slim majority of 51 % of Americans say it is “very important” that future nominees share their views on abortion, and another 31 % say it is” somewhat important”. Just 9 % believe nominees ‘ abortion stance is” not too , important” and 8 %” not important at all”.
The only other attempt at this question was made in 2005. At that point, slightly fewer U. S. adults, 45 %, viewed it as very important that the abortion views of nominees to the nation’s highest court were consistent with their own.
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Again, those who support choice are more likely than their pro-life counterparts to feel the most strongly. 45 % of pro-life Americans say the same, while a 58 % majority of pro-choice Americans believe it is very important that nominees ‘ abortion stance be the same as their own. In 2005, when abortion was legal nationwide, the opposite was true, with 53 % of pro- life and 37 % of pro- choice Americans saying it was very important.
Majority of Americans Declaring themselves to be pro-choice have shifted to the new normal.
The pro-choice segment of the American public continues to be historically large at the same time that pro-choice voters are showing record intensity on the abortion issue.
Currently, 54 % of U. S. adults identify as pro- choice on the issue, continuing the pattern of majority- level support for the position seen since the Dobbs decision was leaked, including 55 % in the initial post- Dobbs reading in May 2022. That was the highest pro-choice share Gallup had ever recorded since 1995, and it was the first time since 2006 that more than half of Americans had been on this scale. Since then, it has not fallen below that threshold.
Meanwhile, 41 % of Americans now identify as pro- life, similar to the 39 % to 44 % levels recorded since the Dobbs leak but in contrast with the average 46 % in the decade and half before it.
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Americans Favor Legal Abortion, Say It Is Morally Acceptable
In recent years, Americans have also become more likely to believe that abortion should be generally legal and morally acceptable.
Concerning legality, the general public has been trending in favor of abortion rights since 2021, when the percentage of people saying it should be legal under any circumstances reached a record high of 30 % for the first time in nearly three decades. It has since ticked up further to today’s 35 %, exceeding the 1992 record high by one point. Offsetting this, the percentage saying abortion should be illegal in all cases has declined by seven points, from 19 % in 2021 to 12 %, tying the record lows from 1990 and 1995. Meanwhile, most respondents, now 50 %, have consistently said abortion should be legal “only under certain circumstances”.
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Americans who hold the middle ear on abortion have been asked by Gallup since 1994 whether they believe it should be legal in most or only a select few cases. A majority of Americans are in favor of more stringent laws on abortion, either saying it should be legal in all circumstances or illegal in all, according to their responses up until 2021.
However, in the wake of the Dobbs draft leak in 2022, combined support for the more restrictive positions dropped to 45 %, while the percentage saying abortion should be legal in all or most circumstances increased to 53 %. Although the two broad sides were tied last year, the positions in favor of expansive abortion rights are again the majority, at 51 % today, while 45 % prefer more restrictive rights.
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On the following pages, Gallup’s full trends on Americans ‘ opinions about the legality of abortion and whether they identify as pro-choice or pro-life are displayed by gender, age, and partisanship:
Americans ‘ views on the morality of abortion have changed significantly since 2001, with only a few exceptions when these positions were tied, in line with the legality trend. By contrast, since 2022, a majority of U. S. adults have said abortion is morally acceptable, with 54 % holding that view today.
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On the following pages, you can find tables displaying the latest demographic groups ‘ views on the abortion label, as well as legal and moral questions:
Changed U. S. Abortion Views Post Dobbs Driven by Democrats
The shift toward more public support for abortion rights has only occurred among Democrats across all three trends, whereas the opinions of Republicans and independents are statistically unchanged.
- The last Gallup survey on these indicators before the Dobbs draft was leaked, in 2021, saw a 16 point increase in the percentage of Democrats supporting choice, up from 70 % to 86 %, while only about a quarter of Republicans and a small minority of independents supported choice.
- Democrats are also now 15 points more likely than ever to believe that abortion should be permitted under any circumstances, an increase of 15 %. Meanwhile, 12 % of Republicans and 30 % of independents, similar to the 2021 figures, hold this view.
- Democrats ‘ opinions on the morality question have most changed, with 19 points to 83 % of respondents saying they find abortion morally acceptable. This contrasts with how about a quarter of Republicans and about half of independents feel this way.
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Six out of ten Americans oppose the legality of abortion pills
Additionally, the poll found that the general public was in favor of allowing the country to sell mifepristone as a prescription drug. Sixty- one percent of adults approve, similar to the 63 % measured last year. This is more support than the drug received in 2000, when 50 % of Americans favored the U. S. Food and Drug Administration’s initial approval of the pill– then known as RU- 486– as a prescription drug.
Although mifepristone was granted federal approval in 2000, it was n’t until 2021 that the FDA made the decision to allow for mail-order prescriptions. A 2023 federal circuit court decision restricting the amount and timing of the drug’s prescription is now threatened that access, which is especially crucial for women in states where abortion has been outlawed. This month, the Supreme Court is anticipated to make its decision.
Both 58 % of men and 64 % of women favor having mifepristone on prescription. Although only a third of Republicans ( 32 % ) support it, the majority of independents ( 61 % ) and the majority of Democrats (87 % ) back it.
Implications
Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, the electoral repercussions of being an avowed “pro- choice” or “pro- life” candidate for higher office have changed. Pro-life candidates had a slight advantage in that their voters had given the issue a priori in their voting decisions. Since the decision, pro- choice candidates have jumped way ahead on this metric.
There is little chance for heightened pro-choice energy to attract new voters to its candidates, including President Joe Biden, since the movement on this has primarily occurred within the Democratic Party. Democrats stand to gain in November if it forces more pro-choice voters to cast ballots than pro-lifers.
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