Topline
The percentage of Americans that think abortion and women’s rights should be among the government’s top priorities has almost tripled in the past six months, a new Associated Press/NORC poll finds, as Democrats in particular urge politicians to take action to shore up abortion rights in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.
Abortion rights demonstrators gather in Washington, D.C., US, on May 14.
Key Facts
The poll found 22% of U.S. adults named abortion or women’s rights as one of the top five priorities they think the government should “work on” in the next year, the AP poll found, which is up from just 8% that said the same the last time the question was asked in December.
The poll was conducted June 23-27, which is both before and after the Supreme Court’s ruling on June 24.
Democrats were significantly more likely to want the government to prioritize abortion, with 33% listing it as a priority—up from 13% in December—versus 11% of Republicans (versus 5% in December).
Respondents were also much more likely to list abortion as a priority if they were polled after the Supreme Court’s ruling: 37% of women polled after Roe was overturned listed abortion as a top priority versus 21% who said the same in June before the court’s ruling, and the share of men saying that abortion should be prioritized surged from 6% before the order came out to 21% after.
Republicans were the least impacted by the ruling, with 9% listing abortion as a priority before the decision came out and 14% after (versus a jump from 18% to 42% among Democrats).
The AP notes that the most anti- and pro-abortion rights respondents were roughly equally as likely to say the government should work on abortion—which is notable because those with the most conservative abortion views have historically been more likely to prioritize the issue.
Big Number
64%. That’s the share of respondents who said abortion should be legal in all or most cases, including 43% of Republicans and 86% of Democrats.
What To Watch For
What the government will do to protect abortion rights. President Joe Biden said Thursday he supports a carve-out for the Senate filibuster that would allow the chamber to codify abortion rights into federal law with just a simple majority of votes, which polling has shown most Americans would support. The likelihood of that happening soon remains a longshot, however, given moderate Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) remain opposed to getting rid of the filibuster. The Biden administration has also announced some other measures that seek to aid abortion access, like the Department of Health and Human Services taking increased steps to ensure states allow medication abortion and directing its civil rights office to protect abortion patients’ privacy rights. The White House has shot down some other progressive proposals, however, such as allowing abortions to take place on federal land in states where the procedure is banned and expanding the Supreme Court. At the state level, more Democratic leaders have taken steps to shore up access in recent days: New York lawmakers are moving forward with a constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights, for instance, and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) said Thursday that state police will be directed not to cooperate with other states’ investigations into abortion ban violations.
Key Background
The Supreme Court upended abortion rights nationwide last week as it overturned Roe v. Wade, declaring the landmark 1973 ruling “egregiously wrong” and giving states license to completely outlaw access to the procedure. Many states have already banned abortion as a result and more are expected to follow—though some of those bans have now been blocked in state courts—which could reach beyond abortion to affect reproductive healthcare more generally, birth control and fertility treatments like in vitro fertilization. The monumental ruling and its wide-reaching effects has led many Democrats to heavily pressure the Biden administration to do more to protect abortion rights, with 34 Democratic senators sending a letter to the president on Saturday urging him to “take immediate action” and “use the full force of the federal government” to protect abortion access. Though the White House has taken some action toward protecting abortion rights in the week since the decision, many on the left have criticized the president and Democratic leaders for responding to the ruling too tepidly and largely focusing on telling Americans to vote if they disagree with the court.
Further Reading
Abortion, women’s rights grow as priorities: AP-NORC poll (Associated Press)
Biden: Senate Should Break Filibuster To Codify Abortion Rights Into Law (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2022/07/01/americans-support-for-government-action-on-abortion-surges-after-roe-v-wade-decision-poll-finds/