(Photo: Creative Photo Corner/Shutterstock.com)
Just before the 2022 midterm elections, Kaiser Family Foundation released a survey of U.S. voters asking them which major issues would influence them the most as they made their ballot selections. Access to abortion proved to be a major motivating factor for women. And then came the results from Kansas.
The KFF poll results appear to be prescient in the aftermath of the thumping Kansas voters gave a proposed state constitutional amendment that would have given legislators there the right to ban access to abortion.
It's not often we have a chance to see survey results borne out so immediately by voters. Here are some of the highlights of the survey of U.S. voters.
Women under the age of 50 comprise perhaps the most important voting block when it comes to access to abortion. Among those, 68% of women under 50 want their state to guarantee access to abortion, including many GOP members. Here's the breakdown by affiliation:
- Democratic: 82%
- Independent: 74%
- Republican: 43%
For all those in the survey (men and women), 61% say they want to preserve state access to abortion. Just 25% want to ban it. The rest haven't made up their minds.
While it was no surprise that Democrats are massively in favor of access (83%), it is the strong support from Independents that could be more telling over time. As a group, 65% say they supported access.
Voters in states that allow access are overwhelmingly in favor of keeping it (68%), and a slight majority (51%) of all voters in states inclined to ban abortion want to maintain access.
The survey finds that the undoing of Roe v. Wade had a slight effect on voters' motivations to get out and vote. But the impact is substantial among all women surveyed under the age of 50.
"Some groups saw a larger boost in motivation, including reproductive-age women. Now 61% of this group says the decision makes them more motivated to vote, up 19 percentage points from May (42%). Again, the vast majority (88%) of the motivated group plans to vote for candidates who will protect access," the survey says.
Abortion access was clearly a hot button to those surveyed. But for the entire group, it was not the No. 1 issue that preyed on their minds as they set out to cast their votes. More important?
Inflation: 74% of voters say inflation, especially rising gas prices, will be "very important" to their vote.
"Abortion access (55%) ranks in a second tier with gun violence (57%) and health care costs, including prescription drug costs (55%)," the survey finds.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.