Nearly two-thirds of Americans disapprove of the US Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, according to a new CNN Poll conducted by SSRS. Most see the ruling as portending negative changes for the country as a whole and for women in their state.
The court’s ruling that there was no longer a federal constitutional right to an abortion came down in late June following the leak of a draft opinion in early May that previewed the final outcome. Since then, legal fights over abortion rights have sprung up in more than a dozen, and Indiana this week became the first state to convene a special session of its legislature to consider more restrictive laws around abortion.
According to the poll, those who oppose the ruling largely feel that politicians who agree with them are not going far enough to ensure abortion access. On the other side, those who approve of the ruling would rather see politicians who agree with them leave abortion restrictions up to the states than push for nationwide restrictions.
Overall, 63% of US adults say they disapprove of the ruling, which upended protections for abortion that had been in place for nearly fifty years, while 37% approve of it. About half, 51%, say they disapprove strongly, including 54% of women.
Views on the ruling are closely tied to a combination of ideology and party, with majorities disapproving among liberal Democrats (93%), moderate or conservative Democrats (81%), independents (71%) and moderate or liberal Republicans (55%). Among conservative Republicans, though, 85% say they approve of the ruling.
Americans younger than 45 are more likely to disapprove of the Supreme Court decision than older adults (74% among the younger group, 54% among those age 45 or older). And older women are far more likely to disapprove than older men (59% of women age 45 or older versus 48% of men in that age group).
Those who disapprove of the ruling largely say that politicians who support legal abortion are not doing enough to ensure access to it (77% say they are not doing enough, 23% say they are). There is little significant variation in this view across demographic or political groups. Liberals (83%) and Democrats (82%) are only slightly more likely to feel politicians aren’t doing enough to protect access to abortion than independents who disapprove of the ruling (76%) or moderates (74%).
Among those satisfied with the ruling, there’s broad agreement that politicians who opposed Roe ought to leave it up to states to determine whether further restrictions are enacted (80% say so) rather than pushing for restrictions on abortion nationwide (20% favor that).
Looking ahead to the potential effects the ruling might have, few see a direct impact on their own lives. Overall, 60% say that the court’s decision to overturn Roe will have no effect on them or their family, while 30% say it will have a negative effect and 10% say it will have a positive one. Younger women are far more apt than others to see the ruling as negatively affecting them or their family personally: 50% of women younger than 45 see a negative effect, compared with 34% among men in the same age group, 23% among women age 45 or older, and 16% among men 45 or older.
Most Americans see a negative effect from the ruling on the country as a whole (68% negative) and on women in their own state (58% negative). Those views are split largely by party, with Democrats and independents more likely to see a negative outcome than Republicans on both questions. The partisan gap is broadest when considering the effect on the nation as a whole. Broad majorities of both Democrats (87%) and independents (73%) see the ruling as having a negative effect on the nation, while Republicans are about evenly divided, with 41% saying overturning Roe will have a negative effect on the country, 45% saying it will have a positive effect and 13% no effect at all. When asked about the effect on women in their own state, 73% of Democrats and 61% of independents say it will have a negative effect, compared with 38% of Republicans.
This CNN Poll was conducted July 22-24 by SSRS online, using a sample drawn from a probability-based panel. Results among the full random national sample of 1,002 adults have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.0 points; it is larger for subgroups.
CNN’s Ariel Edwards-Levy contributed to this report.
