Every month, Gallup asks U.S. adults what they think is the most important problem facing their country. In July, ‘inflation‘ was at the top of the list with ‘government/leadership, both on 17 percent. The economy in general rounded off the top three worries, but it is the addition of two new issues to the top end of the list that is arguably the most interesting aspect of the data.
Related: How many Americans really favor legal abortion?
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‘Abortion issues’ went from just 1 percent of respondents in April to 8 percent in July, representing a record high. Likely in connection to the Supreme Courts decision to overturn Roe v Wade – the landmark 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide – a second apparent symptom of that seismic announcement is the uptick observed in respondents citing ‘judicial system/courts’ as the most important problem facing the country.
These are two issues that are generally split down partisan lines. As Gallup reports, the rise in perceived importance of these two issues is “driven primarily by the concerns of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, 13 percent of whom say that abortion is the nation’s top problem. This puts abortion in second place on the list of Democrats’ concerns, just behind the government at 15%. By contrast, 4% of Republicans and Republican leaners mention abortion.”
This article originally appeared on Statista.com and was syndicated byStatista.com.
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Data shows that most Americans support legal abortion
A conservative-packed Supreme Court has overturned its own 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which made access to legal abortion a constitutional right. This means an end to a federal guarantee of legal abortion and, instead, individual states would create their own laws surrounding whether or not to permit legal abortions.
Since the 1990s, reported abortion rates in the U.S. have been on the decline, Statista found. A 2018 Reuters report found that both pro-abortion and anti-abortion activists believe that stricter laws surrounding abortion have caused abortion rates to decline in the U.S.
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A 2021 Gallup survey reported by Statista found that 49% of surveyed Americans considered themselves “pro-choice,” 47% considered themselves “pro-life” (the term used in the survey), and 2% responded with “mixed or neither.” The survey defined “pro-choice” as “in favor of abortion” and “pro-life” as “against abortion.”
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That same year, 66% of surveyed Americans viewed legal abortion favorably, according to an Ipsos survey reported by Statista. That percentage included respondents who believed “abortion should be permitted either whenever a woman decides to or under given circumstances,” according to Statista. In comparison, 42% of surveyed Americans believed abortion should be allowed “whenever a woman decides she wants one.”
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Both political party identification and age affected how Americans viewed abortion. For instance, in 2021, a Gallup poll reported by Statista found that 15% of Republicans supported legal abortion “under any circumstance,” compared to 50% of Democrats.
Additionally, 46% of Republicans supported legal abortion “in only a few circumstances,” compared to 22% of Democrats. And 31% of Republicans supported making abortion illegal “in all circumstances,” compared to 8% of Democrats.
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In 2021, a Gallup poll reported by Statista found that younger Americans were more likely to favor the legalization of abortion, with 41% of adults 18-34 years old favoring legal abortion under “any circumstance.” In comparison, only 27% of adults over 55 supported legal abortion under “any circumstance.”
The age group in between, adults 35-54 years old, were most likely to support legal abortion in “only a few circumstances,” at 34%. This age group’s second-most popular answer was supporting legal abortion “under any circumstance,” at 32%
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The Guttmacher Institute and the Pew Charitable Trust found that about half of U.S. states would overturn legal abortion given the option. The U.S. regions that had the most states likely to ban legal abortion include the South, Midwest and the West.
The Guttmacher Institute added that would mean the state with the closest legal abortion for most Louisianans would require a 600-mile drive.
This article was produced and syndicated by MediaFeed.org.
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