In a significant development, a poll conducted by Quinnipiac University has revealed that support for legal abortion in the United States has soared to a record high, with 66% of voters expressing their approval. This represents a substantial increase over the past two decades of Quinnipiac polling. The survey further indicates that support for legal abortion in all cases has reached an all-time high of 34%, while support for banning abortion in all cases has plummeted to an unprecedented low of 5%.
These findings align with other surveys conducted in the past decade, which have consistently shown a surge in support for abortion rights. According to a KFF survey, support for legal abortion in all or most cases has risen from 58% in June 2015 to 71% in March of this year.
The heightened importance voters are placing on abortion rights is further underscored by a Bloomberg/Morning Consult survey. For the first time in the tracking poll’s history, more than half of voters in seven swing states have indicated that abortion rights are a significant factor influencing their voting decisions.
As voters in several states prepare to vote on November, they will decide on the fate of restrictive abortion laws enacted in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade. One of these states is Florida, where voters will have the opportunity to overturn a restrictive six-week abortion ban signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis.
In addition, Arizona voters are also poised to decide on a constitutional amendment that would protect abortion rights and overturn a Civil War-era abortion ban that was recently reinstated by the state Supreme Court. However, the Arizona state legislature may attempt to block the law from moving forward before voters can weigh in.
The Biden campaign has made significant efforts to highlight former President Donald Trump’s appointment of conservative Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade. The president has pledged to reinstate the federal right to abortion if elected for another term. Conversely, Republicans are facing challenges in developing a coherent messaging strategy on the issue, which party leaders attribute to a string of losses in key Senate and House races during the 2022 midterm election. In recent months, several Republicans, including Trump, have shifted their stance and now advocate for abortion policies to be decided at the state level, abandoning their previous push for a federal ban on abortion.
