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By Devyn Rudnick / Contributor || Edited by Ines Villarreal Senzatimore
Candidates views on the issue of abortion rights is more crucial to American voters than ever as they head to the polls on Nov. 5 for the presidential election. According to the non-partisan U.S. polling organization Gallup, 28% of registered voters said in 2023 that they will only vote for candidates for major offices who share their position on abortion—one percentage point higher than than in 2022.
As of May 2023 Gallup’s report of Americans’ views on abortion are:
- 34% believe abortion should be legal “under any circumstances”
- 51% say it should be legal “only under certain circumstances”
- 13% say it should be illegal in all circumstances
The landmark Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case on June 24, 2022, left abortion rights in the hands of individual state governments. Since then, American women have seen increased restrictions for their right to receive an abortion in their state.
The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade undid 50 years of precedence. After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutionally protected right to abortion. With 16 states implementing a near-total ban on abortion and seven more states with bans on hold, the court’s decision has caused the topic of abortion to become progressively disputed amongst Americans.
Since June 2022, a record of 54% of registered voters had said they considered a candidate’s vocal position on abortion essential to receiving their vote. This percentage was the highest since 1992 when, Gallup began surveying American voters.
The importance of abortion rights in the upcoming election is also prevalent within candidates’ campaigns that are more openly speaking about the issue, from Republican candidate Ron Desantis promising to initiate a nationwide ban on all abortions, to incumbent president Biden’s petitioning Congress to pass a law restoring the protections of Roe v. Wade.
In an interview with CNN, Joe Biden’s lead campaign manager, Julie Chávez Rodríguez, said the issue of abortion rights in 2024 “is top of mind for many voters across this country.”
Prior to the 2022 U.S. midterm election, the Pew Research Center noted a rise of voters who viewed abortion as relevant to their vote—from 43% in March to 56% in August—with a 25% increase coming from Democrats and only a 1% increase from Republicans.
The lack of change in Republican voters who view abortion as a critical topic shows that the “Supreme Court’s recent decision made the issue less salient for a group who largely want to restrict abortion,” states the Kaiser Family Foundation, an independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
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