WASHINGTON (AP) — A new survey finds a growing percentage of Americans who list abortion or women’s rights as government priorities after the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, particularly among Democrats and those who support abortion access.
With the midterm elections coming up, President Joe Biden and the Democrats will be looking to take advantage of this shift.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in remarks immediately following the ruling that “reproductive freedom is on the ballot in November.” But with the pervasive pessimism and myriad crises facing the nation, it’s unclear whether the resolution will break through to motivate those voters — or simply disappoint them.
“I feel like a big failure,” said Lauren Nelson, 26, of San Diego, who worried about the environment her young niece would grow up in. She doesn’t think the midterms will change the course she says are on. “You can’t help but feel kind of helpless, like there’s not much that can be done.”
Twenty-two percent of U.S. adults listed abortion or women’s rights in an open-ended question as one of the five issues they want the government to work on, according to a survey by the Associated Press Center for Public Affairs Research and NORC. That’s more than double since December, when an AP-NORC poll found a notable jump in mentions of abortion from years ago, likely in anticipation of the Dobbs decision on abortion.
The new study, which included interviews conducted before and after the Supreme Court decision, found that prioritization of issues rose sharply after the decision.
The Dobbs decision returns abortion decision-making back to the states, and in the past week, Republican governors and legislatures have taken steps to introduce or advance legislation that would ban or restrict abortions.
Polls conducted before the decision showed it was unpopular with a majority of Americans who wanted the court to leave Roe as it stands. Most Americans support access to abortion in general, although many say there should be restrictions.
The specific mention of abortion is not limited to Americans who support abortion rights; instead, the poll shows that abortion is listed as a priority about equally by adults with strong opinions on both sides of the issue — a third who think abortion should be legal in all cases and 1 in 10 who think abortion should be illegal in any case.
Ernestine Smith, a 68-year-old resident of Waukegan, Illinois, said the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe represented progress. The issue is one of her top priorities right now.
“We want abortion abolished and abolished,” she said. “We have to stand up and say no.”
Yet, importantly, those with the most liberal views on abortion and those with the most conservative views are almost equally likely to prioritize the issue; historically, research has shown that opponents of abortion are more likely to consider the issue important to them than those who support abortion access.
And the new survey found that women’s rights are mentioned almost exclusively by those who think abortion should be legal.
According to the survey, the percentage of women prioritizing abortion or women’s rights was already higher in interviews conducted before the decision than six months ago, 21% versus 9% in December; swelled to 37% in the days since. Mentions also rose sharply among men, but the growth was concentrated after the decision, from 6% in interviews conducted before to 21% after.
Lyle Gist said he wouldn’t have considered abortion a top priority a few years ago. The court’s decision to overturn Roe, while not surprising, makes it a major issue.
“I think the implications of this are significant,” said Gist, 36, of Los Angeles. Gist believes there will be ripple effects, including a “mass exodus” of people leaving countries with abortion bans.
In a small Louisiana town in 1968, when abortion was illegal, Ann Jones carried a pregnancy to term and gave her daughter up for adoption. Jones, now 74 in Plano, Texas, worries about what the GOP might pursue — like birth control — and thinks it’s hypocritical for lawmakers like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to want to “hold the woman responsible for the child, which they may not be able to afford to keep,” even as they curtail health and social services for women and children.
“Texas politics has gone down the wrong path,” she said. She wants abortion access to become national law, but remains skeptical that Biden and the Democrats can make it happen.
The survey shows that these issues are becoming more important to Democrats, rising from just 3% in 2020 to 13% in 2021 and now 33%. In interviews before the decision, 18% of Democrats mentioned abortion or women’s rights; it was 42% after that.
Among Republicans, 11 percent named abortion or women’s rights a priority in the new survey, a modest increase from the 5 percent who said so in December.
Stephen Lefemin, who protested outside Planned Parenthood in Columbia, South Carolina, called Roe’s reversal “a major indicator” but said lawmakers need to do much more, including pursuing a constitutional amendment to protect unborn children.
“I would like to see legislation that lives up to God’s word,” he said.
Biden and Democrats have vowed to fight for abortion access, but have struggled with how to act given crippling opposition from Republicans in the deeply divided Senate. Biden told reporters Thursday that he would support an exception to the filibuster rule to codify Roe into law.
Roderick Hinton, who voted for Biden, wants to see the president pursue judicial reform, saying the court’s rulings “are out of step with today’s times.” He was angry after the court overturned Roe — that the older generation was “turning the screws” on younger Americans, including his two daughters.
Biden commissioned the review of the Supreme Court after promising to do so during his campaign, a response to rhetoric in the Democratic Party to expand the court after former President Donald Trump’s three conservative appointments. The report, published last year, was cautious about proposals to expand the court or set deadlines.
“Their lifetime position is really crazy,” Hinton said. “As neutral as the courts were, now it’s becoming political. Their personal beliefs are put into place.”
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Associated Press/Report for America reporter Claire Savage in Chicago and AP writer Matt Sedensky in New York contributed to this report.
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The poll of 1,053 adults was conducted June 23-27, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak panel, which is intended to be representative of the US population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4 percentage points.
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