MILWAUKEE – A new Marquette Law School Poll national survey finds 40% of adults nationwide say abortion is one of the most important issues to them, while 39% say it is somewhat important, and 21% say it is not very or not at all important.
Table 1 shows the full set of responses on the importance of abortion as an issue.
Table 1: Importance of abortion issue, May 2022
Poll dates | One of the most important issues | Somewhat important | Not very important | Not important at all |
5/9-19/22 | 40 | 39 | 15 | 6 |
The latest Marquette Law School Poll’s Supreme Court survey was conducted May 9-19, 2022, a week after a draft opinion that would overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade abortion-rights precedent was leaked to the Politico news organization. The survey interviewed 1,004 adults nationwide and has a margin of error of +/-3.9 percentage points.
A previous Marquette Law School Poll release yesterday, May 25, described other results of the new national survey; that release primarily focused on public opinion of the Supreme Court and of cases concerning abortion and other issues. This release provides further results of the same survey on national topics.
Table 2 shows the importance of abortion as an issue, by party identification. Democrats rank the issue as more important than do independents or Republicans. A quarter of Republicans and independents say abortion is not very or not at all important to them, while 14% of Democrats say this.
Table 2: Importance of abortion issue, by party identification, May 2022
Party ID | One of the most important issues | Somewhat important | Not very important | Not important at all |
Republican | 31 | 44 | 17 | 8 |
Independent | 38 | 36 | 15 | 10 |
Democrat | 48 | 37 | 12 | 2 |
Asked what public policy on abortion should be, 29% say abortion should be legal in all cases, 38% say legal in most cases, 24% say it should be illegal in most cases, and 8% say illegal in all cases.
Those who say abortion should be illegal in all cases are the most likely to say it is one of the most important issues to them, followed by those who say it should be legal in all cases. The middle categories, involving those who say abortion should be mostly legal or mostly illegal, have about half as many (or fewer) people who say the abortion issue is one of their most important issues as those in the other categories just described. The relationship between policy preference and opinion on importance of the issue is shown in Table 3.
Table 3: Opinion on importance of abortion issue, by policy preference on abortion, May 2022
Policy preference on abortion | One of the most important issues | Somewhat important | Not very important | Not important at all |
Legal in all cases | 60 | 30 | 5 | 4 |
Legal in most cases | 24 | 46 | 25 | 5 |
Illegal in most cases | 32 | 47 | 14 | 7 |
Illegal in all cases | 67 | 20 | 5 | 7 |
While abortion policy is a highly polarizing issue among elected members of Congress and state legislatures, opinion is not as strongly divided by party among the public. Table 4 shows that, while substantial majorities of Democrats and independents say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, a substantial minority of Republicans also say it should be legal always or mostly. A majority of Republicans say it should always or mostly be illegal.
Table 4: Policy preference on abortion, by party identification, May 2022
Party ID | Legal in all cases | Legal in most cases | Illegal in most cases | Illegal in all cases |
Republican | 10 | 31 | 44 | 14 |
Independent | 35 | 40 | 16 | 7 |
Democrat | 44 | 43 | 10 | 3 |
Policy preferences are sensitive to the specific limitations proposed on abortion. With the potential for Roe to be overturned, several state legislatures have enacted or debated laws that would ban abortions (in most cases, with some exceptions) at various stages of pregnancy. This survey asked a series of questions about support for or opposition to bans based on these state proposals. Each question included an exception for “medical emergencies.”
The question asked:
Here are some limits on when during pregnancy an abortion might be banned, except in cases of medical emergencies, that some states are considering. How much do you favor or oppose each of these proposals?
The results for the five alternative policies are shown in Table 5. There is majority opposition to bans that would apply at any time or after 6 weeks, and an even divide on bans after 15 weeks. A majority favor bans after six months, and a majority oppose there being no restrictions on when a woman can obtain an abortion.
Table 5: Favor or oppose abortion bans, by when ban would take effect, May 2022
Ban when | Favor | Oppose |
Ban at any time during pregnancy | 27 | 72 |
Ban after 6 weeks | 34 | 65 |
Ban after 15 weeks | 50 | 49 |
Ban after 6 months | 65 | 35 |
No restrictions at any point | 39 | 60 |
Some states have considered legislation that would make it illegal for a woman to have an abortion by traveling to a different state where abortion is legal. This policy is favored by 22% of respondents nationwide and is opposed by 78%.
Opinion on making out-of-state travel for abortions illegal is shown by party identification in Table 6.
Table 6: Should states be able to make out-of-state travel for abortion illegal, by party identification, May 2022
Party ID | Yes | No |
Republican | 32 | 68 |
Independent | 19 | 81 |
Democrat | 14 | 86 |
Enthusiasm to vote
Looking ahead to the November elections, 37% say they are very enthusiastic about voting, 31% are somewhat enthusiastic, 22% are not too enthusiastic, and 10% are not at all enthusiastic to vote this fall.
Enthusiasm to vote varies by party, with Republicans most likely to say they are very enthusiastic, trailed by Democrats. Independents are much less enthusiastic. Enthusiasm is shown in Table 7 (a) for all adults and in Table 7 (b) for registered voters only.
Table 7: Enthusiasm to vote, by party identification, May 2022
(a) All adults
Party ID | Very enthusiastic | Somewhat enthusiastic | Not too enthusiastic | Not at all enthusiastic |
Republican | 50 | 28 | 19 | 3 |
Independent | 17 | 23 | 28 | 31 |
Democrat | 34 | 37 | 22 | 7 |
(b) Registered voters only
Party ID | Very enthusiastic | Somewhat enthusiastic | Not too enthusiastic | Not at all enthusiastic |
Republican | 53 | 29 | 16 | 2 |
Independent | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 |
Democrat | 39 | 37 | 21 | 2 |
Enthusiasm measured by opinion on the importance of the abortion issue is shown in Table 8 for all adults and for registered voters. There are too few respondents who say the abortion issue is not important at all to reliably estimate results for that group, so they have been combined with those who say abortion is not very important in this table.
Table 8: Enthusiasm to vote, by opinion on importance of abortion issue, May 2022
(a) All adults
Importance of abortion issue | Very enthusiastic | Somewhat enthusiastic | Not too enthusiastic | Not at all enthusiastic |
One of the most important issues | 44 | 27 | 20 | 8 |
Somewhat important | 30 | 36 | 23 | 11 |
Not very or not at all important | 35 | 28 | 24 | 13 |
(b) Registered voters only
Importance of abortion issue | Very enthusiastic | Somewhat enthusiastic | Not too enthusiastic | Not at all enthusiastic |
One of the most important issues | 51 | 27 | 17 | 5 |
Somewhat important | 35 | 37 | 22 | 6 |
Not very or not at all important | 43 | 31 | 19 | 7 |
Enthusiasm to vote is shown by abortion policy preference in Table 9. Enthusiasm to vote is higher among those opposed to abortion than among those who favor legal abortions.
Table 9: Enthusiasm to vote, by abortion policy preference, May 2022
(a) All adults
Abortion policy preference | Very enthusiastic | Somewhat enthusiastic | Not too enthusiastic | Not at all enthusiastic |
Legal in all cases | 33 | 30 | 21 | 15 |
Legal in most cases | 33 | 32 | 27 | 9 |
Illegal in most cases | 44 | 32 | 16 | 8 |
Illegal in all cases | 50 | 25 | 19 | 6 |
(b) Registered voters only
Abortion policy preference | Very enthusiastic | Somewhat enthusiastic | Not too enthusiastic | Not at all enthusiastic |
Legal in all cases | 40 | 30 | 22 | 8 |
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