Ten months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion, two-thirds of Americans continue to oppose its decision, and 51% believe that their judges now base their decisions mainly in his personal political views, not in the law.
In early 2022, before the abortion ruling, the public was evenly split, 46% to 45%, on whether the justices’ rulings were based primarily on the law or their own preferences policies Today, far fewer than half, 39%, believe Supreme Court rulings are based primarily on the law, a 7-point drop on this key measure of trust in the court.
While these views have become more partisan, even among Republicans and conservatives, only half believe that courts rule primarily based on the law. And today, only 35% to 37% of Democrats, independents and moderates, and 27% of liberals, think so. Faith in the courts to follow the law has dropped by double digits in three of these groups.
Decision-making by Supreme Court judges
ABC News
Women are particularly likely to oppose the Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. But most women and men oppose it, and trust in the court to rule primarily on the basis of the law declines among both women (minus 7 points) and men (minus 6 points). (Drops are slight given the sample sizes.)
abortion
Results of this survey, produced by ABC for Langer Research Associatesthey underscore the broad and continued majority support for abortion rights in the United States, a contrast to the state-by-state upheaval sparked by the high court’s ruling last summer.
Among those results, 78% of Americans say the decision to have an abortion should be left to a woman and her doctor, rather than regulated by law. (It was 70% and 75% in two previous ABC/Washington Post polls from 2021.) Even majorities of Republicans (58%) and conservatives (60%) hold this view, as do among 82% and 96% of those with other partisan and ideological preferences.
Notably, even among white evangelical Protestants, typically the main anti-abortion group, 56% say the decision to have an abortion should be left up to a woman and her doctor. This rises to 75% of Catholics, 83% of white non-evangelical Protestants, and 92% of those with no religious affiliation.
Attitudes towards abortion
ABC News
As noted, 66% overall oppose the court’s Dobbs ruling, including 54% who strongly oppose it, well above strong support at 22%. The global opposition includes 71% of women, compared to 61% of men. It is also higher among black (81%) and Hispanic (74%) adults than among white adults, at 62%.
Majorities of white evangelical Protestants, conservatives and Republicans support the ruling, but not overwhelmingly: 58% among evangelicals, 55% among conservatives and 54% among Republicans. They compare with much higher levels of opposition in other political and ideological groups: 71% among independents, 79% among moderates, 88% among Democrats and 92% among liberals.
The result among independents, in particular, marks a potential political risk for anti-abortion candidates. Seventy-seven percent of independent women oppose Dobbs, as do 65% of independent men. Seventy percent of suburban women oppose it, as do 63 percent of suburban men. And 60% of states won by Donald Trump in 2020 oppose Dobbs, rising to 70% in states won by Joe Biden.
Similar to attitudes about Dobbs, 66% overall say the abortion drug mifepristone should remain on the market. Half of white evangelical Protestants say so, as do 46% of conservatives and 45% of Republicans, with support rising much higher in other groups.
Boxes of the drug mifepristone sit on a shelf at the West Alabama Women’s Center in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, March 16, 2022.
Allen G. Breed/AP, FILE
Among its supporters, 72% say the drug should remain as available as it is now.
Although mifepristone is now unavailable in 14 states, 60 percent of residents in those states say the drug should be available versus 27 percent who say it should be off the market. In other states, 68 percent say mifepristone should remain available.
The Supreme Court last month temporarily blocked two lower court rulings against mifepristone: one overturning the drug’s approval by the Food and Drug Administration and the other blocking its distribution by mail. This case remains in the lower court.
Methodology
This ABC News/Washington Post poll was conducted by landline and cell phone from April 28 to May 3, 2023, in English and Spanish, among a random national sample of 1,006 adults. Party splits are 26-25-41%, Democrats-Republicans-Independents. The results have a margin of sampling error of 3.5 percentage points, including the design effect. Sampling error is not the only source of differences in surveys.
The survey was produced by ABC News for Langer Research Associateswith sampling and data collection by Abt Associates of Rockville, Maryland. See details on the survey methodology here.
