The poll finds support for at least some legal abortion, increasing polarization

Protesters filled the street in front of the Supreme Court after the court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022. Nearly a year later, 61% of respondents to a new Gallup poll said overturning Roe was a “bad thing.”

Jacquelyn Martin/AP

A growing majority of Americans support legal abortion in at least the early months of pregnancy, but the public has become more politically divided on the issue, according to a new Gallup poll.

The data, released days before the one-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision that overturned decades of precedent, suggests continued growth in public support for abortion rights. It comes at a time when many states are implementing new restrictions, which often include only limited exceptions for medical emergencies.

A year after Dobbs, 61% of respondents said overturning Roe was a “bad thing,” while 38% said it was a “good thing.”

Lydia Saad, Gallup’s director of U.S. social research, says overall, the data suggests that Dobbs “galvanized people who were already supportive of abortion rights. …We’ve seen an increase in Democrats identifying as pro-choice, supporting abortion rights at every stage. It’s really a very defensive posture, protecting abortion rights in the face of what they view as this assault.”

Long-term data from Gallup indicates growing support for abortion rights: 13% of survey respondents said abortion should be illegal in “all circumstances,” down from 22% when the question was first asked in 1975. In this year’s survey, 34% said abortion should be legal “under any circumstances,” up from 21% that first year.

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