One year after the right-wing Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, Americans say the consequences of the decision have been even worse than they expected as their support for abortions rights has simultaneously increased, according to two new polls this week.
A CBS News/YouGov poll found that 57% of Americans say the end of Roe—and a woman’s constitutional right to abortion—has been bad for the country.
The poll found half of Americans say abortion access has been more restricted than they expected (while 36% say it’s been roughly what they expected and just 14% say it’s been less restrictive than they anticipated).
Among women, 6 in 10 disapprove of the ruling, and 53% say it has made being pregnant more dangerous in the U.S. For electoral context, Joe Biden won women by 11 points in 2020, 55%-44%, before the decision was imposed on the country by Republicans’ extremist majority. So the ruling stands to reinforce—or even grow—that disparity among female voters next year at the ballot box.
A USA Today/Suffolk poll was even more brutal for Republicans, showing the end of Roe has made Americans more supportive of abortion rights while simultaneously isolating Republican voters from the rest of the country:
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1 in 4 Americans say state efforts to restrict access has increased their support for abortion rights.
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By almost 4-1, 23%-6%, respondents who said their views on abortion have changed over the past year said they have become more supportive of legal abortion, not less.
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Independent women whose views had changed said they had become more supportive rather than less by a margin of 28%-5%.
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Increased support for abortion rights was particularly high among Black respondents, 32% of whom said they had become more supportive.
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Other demographic groups who Democrats need to turn out next year also showed increased urgency on the issue, including women, Democratic voters, and younger voters.
Americans also vehemently oppose passage of a federal abortion ban, 80%-14%, including 83% of independents and even 65% of Republicans.
Republicans should be cowering in a corner right now as polling evidence continues to show abortion rights could prove to be even more salient in 2024 than it was in last year’s midterms. As it is, a strong reaction to the GOP’s restrictive push across the country helped suck the energy out of the supposed red wave last cycle.
Now, as last month’s Daily Kos/Civiqs poll found, a 44% plurality of registered voters fear a federal law or court decision could further restrict abortion access in their state—double the 22% who worried about a federal expansion of access.
Since the Dobbs ruling, voters’ worst fears have been realized in story after story about those who are pregnant having difficulty accessing reproductive care, being deprived of standard procedures following a miscarriage, being forced to carry non-viable fetuses to term, and suffering unnecessary complications as a result of restricted care. Additionally, abortion-restricting states are losing their doctors, a problem particularly acute in rural areas.
One year later, more Americans are convinced the country has taken a turn for the worse following the fall of Roe, and none of those horror stories are going to end between now and Election Day next year.
We are joined by Christina Reynolds of Emily’s List. Reynolds is the Senior Vice President of Communications and Content at the progressive organization that works on getting women elected to office. Reynolds talks about what she is seeing up and down the ballot this election cycle on the anniversary of the outrageous Supreme Court Decision to take away the reproductive protections of Roe v. Wade.
Kerry Eleveld
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