New survey from All In Together finds abortion is a top voting issue heading into the election; most voters support abortion being legal

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Jun 20, 2023, 09:00 ET

Findings come from one of most comprehensive polls of women across the political spectrum to date

NEW YORK, June 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A year after the landmark "Dobbs versus Jackson" decision was handed down by the Supreme Court, a new poll finds that women across the country - including a sizeable number of Republican women - say they were "angry" and "disappointed" by the decision. The findings come from a survey conducted by All In Together, the national, nonpartisan nonprofit in conjunction with pollster Echelon Insights.

"The anger and disappointment of Democratic and Independent women around Dobbs has carried over into political engagement," All In Together CEO Lauren Leader said. "Abortion access is so important to Democratic women that 54% said it was a dealbreaker when it came to supporting candidates."

"This was also true for nearly half of Independent women, who have become critical swing votes in Presidential and Congressional election years and are looking more like Democrats on the abortion issue," Leader said.

Perhaps of great significance for next year's Presidential and Congressional elections, more than one-third (34%) said they were "angry" or "disappointed" by the Dobbs decision, while another 21% said they were "worried" or "frustrated" and 22% said they were "hopeful" after the decision was handed down.

The poll – among the most comprehensive to date delving into the views of women across the political, racial, and geographic spectrum – found that for women voters, guns (50%), abortion (49%), and cost of living (48%) are top voting issues looking ahead to 2024.

Key findings include:

Women generally support abortion being legal in most cases, although with some restrictions.
50% of all women think abortion access should be guaranteed in all 50 states by federal law. Nearly 25% of Republican women and just about half (49%) of women who identify as politically Independent say this should be so, compared to 70% of Democratic women. Only 39% of Republican women say that abortion access should be restricted in some way through federal law.
At the same time, an overwhelming majority of women under 30 support abortion with no restrictions. Among those between the ages of 18 to 29, a huge majority, 75%, support either totally unrestricted access to abortion (39%) or abortion access with some restrictions (37%).

"This ardent support among young women for access without restriction, potentially signals a generational shift in how American voters think about abortion," Leader said. "In the last two elections, young people have proved to be committed and active voters turning out for Democrats and making a real difference in electoral outcomes. Abortion is part of that motivation."

Additional findings:

Of particular note, women who live in states where abortion is prohibited (43%) or restrictive or in legal dispute (47%) are more likely to say that their state's laws are too restrictive.
More than half of women respondents (62%) oppose bans on mifepristone, the drug used in medication abortions.
Less than half of women feel that the political leaders in their state listen to them on key issues. On abortion, 48% said that "they don't listen to me at all."

"Since Dobbs," Leader said, "the political landscape on abortion has fundamentally changed. But elected leaders seem slow to catch up."

This survey looked at 856 registered voters in the Likely Electorate nationwide from May 8-10, 2023, with a 3.4 margin of error. The survey also oversampled 421 women with a 4.1 margin of error for a total of 1277 respondents surveyed. The survey was conducted online using a non probability sample.

Complete polling data is available at www.aitogether.org.

About All In Together

All In Together (AIT) is a national, nonpartisan nonprofit with a mission to equip, educate, and empower voting-age women to participate fully in America's civic and political life.

SOURCE All In Together