Most Americans In States Banning Abortion Disapprove Of Roe V. Wade Decision, Poll Finds

Topline

Most U.S. adults disapprove of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade and letting states ban abortion, according to a new Pew Research poll—including slight majorities of residents of the 21 states that are banning or restricting the procedure in light of the court’s ruling.

Abortion rights demonstrators gather outside the US Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on June 24.

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Key Facts

The Pew poll, conducted June 27 to July 4 among 6,174 U.S. adults, found a 57% majority of respondents do not agree with the court overturning Roe.

That includes 52% of respondents who live in states that have totally banned abortion (versus 47% who approve), as well as 52% of those in states with abortion restrictions that ban the procedure at six or 15 weeks into the pregnancy (47% approve).

People in those states are more likely to strongly disagree with the court’s ruling than strongly agree with it: 36% strongly disapprove in states where abortion is prohibited versus 30% who strongly approve, and 38% strongly disapprove in states where abortion is restricted while only 28% strongly approve.

Americans in states with protections for abortion rights are the most opposed to the ruling, with 65% disapproving, and a 53% majority disapprove of the decision in states where abortion is allowed but faces a more uncertain future.

Support for the court’s ruling is sharply divided along partisan lines, with only 29% of Republicans disagreeing with the decision versus 82% of Democrats.

That being said, while conservative Republicans were staunchly opposed to abortion—only 19% disapprove of Roe being overturned—more moderate Republicans were much more divided, with 49% disapproving of the court’s ruling, including 31% who were strongly opposed to it.

Big Number

62%. That’s the share of respondents who believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases, which is on par with the 61% who said the same before the court’s ruling in March.

Surprising Fact

Beyond Republicans, the only demographic group polled that mostly approves of Roe being overturned is Protestant Americans, 52% of whom support the court’s ruling. That’s driven by 71% of white evangelical Protestants who agree with the court’s ruling, while only 47% of white non-evangelical Protestants backed the decision. Every other demographic group polled—spanning race, age, education level and marital status—had more respondents disapproving than approving of the Supreme Court decision, including Catholics (51% disapprove).

Tangent

For the purposes of the Pew poll, seventeen states have alreadly prohibited abortion or have bans that will soon take effect: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. However, bans in Kentucky, Louisiana and Utah have been blocked in court, at least temporarily. Four states—Florida, Georgia, Ohio and South Carolina—have heavily restricted abortion, and the states where abortion is allowed so far but is less protected are Indiana, Iowa, Montana, North Carolina, Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

What To Watch For

The political impact of constitutents disagreeing with their states’ abortion bans, as Democratic leaders and strategists hope the controversial high court decision will turn out the party’s base for the midterm elections. While any opposition to the ruling is unlikely to hold much sway in more staunchly conservative states, it could prove influential in battleground states with races that could shape their abortion policies. Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) is running for reelection and can block his state’s GOP-led legislature from enacting a new abortion ban, for instance, and Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul (D), also on the ballot, has vowed not to enforce the state’s pre-Roe abortion ban. Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan also have high-profile gubernatorial races with Democrats who could block abortion bans, and Kansas has a ballot measure in August on abortion rights, among other consequential races.

Key Background

The Supreme Court overturned Roe on June 24, declaring the landmark 1973 ruling “egregiously wrong” and giving states license to outlaw abortion outright. The ruling immediately spurred a wave of abortion bans across the country as state “trigger laws” took effect, along with abortion bans enacted before Roe was decided and restrictions that had previously been blocked in court but were now allowed to take effect. The pro-abortion rights Guttmacher Institute projects 26 states will ultimately ban or heavily restrict the procedure. Pew’s survey is in line with other polls that show a majority of Americans opposed the Supreme Court’s ruling and broadly support abortion rights, though higher shares are in favor of restrictions on the procedure further into a pregnancy.