WASHINGTON ( Associated Press) — A new poll finds a growing percentage of Americans who cite abortion or women’s rights as a priority for the government following a Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade, especially among Democrats and those who support abortion access.
With the midterms just around the corner, President Joe Biden and Democrats will be looking to capitalize on that change.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in remarks just after the decision that “reproductive freedom is on the ballot in November.” But with widespread pessimism and the massive crisis facing the nation, it is unclear whether the ruling will inspire those voters or simply frustrate them.
“It sounds like a big shock,” said Lauren Nelson, 26, of San Diego, who said she’s worried about the environment her little niece will grow up to be. Nelson doesn’t think the midterm will change the course of things. .
“You can’t help but feel a little helpless, like there’s not much to do,” she said.
Twenty-two percent of American adults named abortion or women’s rights as an open question, according to a survey by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Research on Women’s Issues, which five issues they want the government to act on. public. That percentage has more than doubled since December, when the Associated Press-NORC survey revealed a significant increase in abortion mentions from previous years, possibly in anticipation of Dobbs’ ruling on abortion.
The new survey, which included interviews conducted before and after the Supreme Court’s decision, shows that the priority of issues rose sharply after the decision.
Dobbs’ decision turned state officials back on abortion rulings, and in the past week, Republican governors and legislatures have moved to introduce or promote laws banning or restricting abortion.
Polls before the verdict showed that he was unpopular with most Americans, who wanted the court to drop Roe. The majority of the country’s population supports the use of abortion in general, although many say there should be a ban.
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Associated Press/Report for America reporter Claire Savage in Chicago and Associated Press Writer Matt Sedensky in New York contributed to this report.
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The Associated Press-NORC survey, conducted June 23-27, surveyed 1,053 adults, with a sample drawn from NORC’s AmeriSpeak Probability Panel designed to be representative of the US population. The margin of sample error is plus or minus 4 percentage points for all respondents.
