Support for Abortion Rights

The Public Religion Research Institute has released results of a survey of 22,000 people on abortion since the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision.

It contains a range of interesting findings, but the top-line finding to me appears to be the state-level results. When asked if abortion should be legal in all cases, most cases, some cases, or be completely illegal, 43 states and D.C. come out with 50% or more respondents agreeing that it should be legal in all or most cases.

(Click the map to enlarge for better viewing.)

The states with the highest percent agreeing were:

• D.C. 82%
• Nevada 80%
• Massachusetts 79%
• Washington 77%
• Maine, Maryland 76%
• Connecticut, Hawaii, New Jersey, Oregon 75%
• New York, Virginia 71%
• Illinois, Rhode Island 70%

Surprises: Purple states like Florida and Wisconsin were both at 64%, while "blue" states like Minnesota were at 63%. If you've heard there's a gerrymandering or voter suppression problem in Florida and Wisconsin, you heard that correctly.

South Carolina (62%), Iowa (61%), Alaska (68%), and Montana (64%) … all surprised me. Ohio at 66% and Indiana at 61%!

Conversely, Vermont coming in at only 61% was a surprise. Likewise, California coming in at only 69%, the same as New Hampshire. Solid but not what I would have expected.

The seven states below 50% were less surprising. Three of them were barely below that level (Idaho, Mississippi, and Tennessee, all at 49%). Oklahoma is in the middle of the low pack, followed by Arkansas, with the bottom held by a tie between Utah and South Dakota, each at 42%.

I don't know what differentiates North and South Dakota so greatly (56% vs. 42%). I wonder if anyone will look into that. As a person who has been in Minnesota for 35 years or so, I have some perspective on their differences, but nothing that would shed any light on that.

I tend to think the strong 64% number for Wisconsin is a hopeful sign for their upcoming state Supreme Court election, which just had a primary on Tuesday that was reflective of those numbers. If that turns out as I hope, Wisconsin may become a place with fair election districts once again.