Most Americans say they want women and medical doctors to have “a lot” of influence over abortion policy, but relatively few believe they actually do.
In a new YouGov poll conducted June 27 - 30, 29% want the U.S. Supreme Court — which overturned Roe v. Wade and ended a constitutional right to abortion last week — to have “a lot” of influence over abortion policy. But more than double that share (67%) say that the nation’s highest court has “a lot” of control over current abortion policy. In contrast, 66% of Americans want women to have “a lot” of influence over abortion policy, but only 35% say they currently do.
More Americans also want medical doctors to have a lot of influence than say they do: 52% say they should have a lot of influence, but just 24% say they actually do. Majorities of Americans say that state lawmakers and state Supreme Courts have a lot of influence currently, while smaller shares of people say each group should have a lot of influence. There is also a similar gap between state Governors, Republicans in Congress, men, and Democrats in Congress: More people say they have a lot of influence on the topic than want them to.
There are some differences between where Republicans and Democrats think this power should rest. Republicans say that women (49%), state lawmakers (47%), the U.S. Supreme Court (45%), and state Supreme Courts (41%) should all hold “a lot” of influence over abortion legislation. Democrats are more likely to say women (79%) should have a lot of power, followed by medical doctors (67%).
— Carl Bialik, Taylor Orth, and Oana Dumitru contributed to this article.
This poll was conducted on June 27 - 30, 2022 among 1,000 U.S. adult citizens. Explore more on the methodology and data for this YouGov poll.
Image: Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash
