(Week of 3/24/2012) Over half the public admits they don’t know whether it is easy or difficult to get abortions in the place where they live. According to the latest Economist/YouGov Poll, men and women are about equally likely to say they don’t know, but young adults are more likely to say they don’t know than are middle-aged individuals or senior citizens. Politically, Republicans are more than twice as likely as Democrats to think abortions are very easy to obtain.
Abortion is not an election issue for most voters. Just 4% overall say it is their most important issue. That number is twice as high among GOP voters. 57% of Americans would consider voting for a pro-choice candidate; 51% for a candidate who was pro-life. And there is some party crossover: although all the top GOP candidates call themselves pro-life, 45% of GOP voters would consider voting for a pro-choice candidate; although their party supports abortion rights, 40% of Democratic voters would consider voting for a pro-life candidate.
Americans overall take a middle path when it comes to legalized abortion: 53% think it should be legal in some cases, illegal in others. And while a quarter of Republicans would outlaw abortions in all cases, and 37% of Democrats would allow them, around half of both parties’ identifiers take the middle position.
Economist/YouGov poll archives can be found here
Photo source: Press Association
