Republicans have created a disaster on abortion since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago. They have no message to justify their extreme forced birth positions. Their candidates are afraid to talk about it. And their standard bearer—convicted felon Donald Trump—can’t give a coherent statement about where he stands.
Meanwhile, Democrats are on offense, knowing public opinion is on their side.
New Gallup polling shows just how much the GOP needs to worry about abortion. Not only does it show a record high support for abortion rights, but it also shows that a record high percentage of voters—32%— say they’ll vote solely on the issue. That breaks down to 23% of pro-choice voters and just 8% of anti-abortion voters.
This is a pretty significant change from Gallup’s survey on abortion two years ago.
“Prior to Dobbs, just 10% of voters said they were pro-choice and would only vote for those with the same beliefs and no more than 13% of voters identified as pro-life and would only support candidates with the same position,” that survey found.
While Gallup finds that 41% still call themselves "pro-life," slightly down from pre-2022 results, it seems that the hardcore anti-abortion vote is shrinking under the harsh reality of state bans. The GOP has been chasing a tiny sliver of the electorate with its hard right turn on abortion rights.
But there’s another significant take away from this survey: Identifying as “pro-choice” is “the new normal.” In 2022, right after the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe was leaked, 55% of respondents identified as abortion supporters. That majority has not diminished over time, as it stands at 54% in the new survey.
It’s “the first time since 2006 that more than half of Americans were in the pro-choice camp on this measure,” Gallup notes.
Meanwhile, a record high 35% of voters say that abortion should be legal in all cases, while the share that says it should be illegal in all cases has shrunk by 7 points since 2021, from 19% to 12%.
Supporting abortion rights is now the moral high ground in the U.S.—54% in the Gallup poll say abortion is morally acceptable, and a good chunk of them are going to vote that way.
Expect Republicans to keep floundering, terrified of angering their shrinking base. And expect Democrats to aggressively push their advantage, like President Joe Biden recently did with the ad at the top.
Published with permission of Daily Kos
