WASHINGTON – Abortion and women’s rights combined are significant issues determining voters’ decisions for Congress and the 2024 elections, according to a new Ms. Magazine and Feminist Majority Foundation poll released by Lake Research Partners at a Tuesday briefing at the National Press Club.
More than a year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a new public opinion poll suggests abortion access will motivate voters as they head to the polls next year.
Of the 1000 adults surveyed from September 8 to 10, results included responses from 847 registered voters who were surveyed. Responses showed that although voters prioritized threats to democracy, and inflation and rising prices, abortion and women’s rights combined were also on voters’ minds.
Respondents chose one or more issues from a list that included inflation and rising prices, threats to democracy, immigration, gun violence, climate change, health care and prescription drugs, abortion, women’s rights, taxes, crime, affordable housing, education and schools, racism, jobs and the economy, and student loans. Respondents could also indicate if they weren’t sure or were motivated by other issues.
Most respondents, 61%, said that abortions should be legal and mostly available, although some of those respondents, 17%, thought abortions should be regulated. A century after the Equal Rights Amendment was first introduced, 57% of respondents said they strongly support that it finally be included in the Constitution.
The survey also asked respondents their level of motivation to vote in the next election if abortion is banned. Generally, 62% of respondents were motivated, with the majority of those respondents, 45%, being very motivated.
Ms. Magazine Editor Kathy Spillar said poll results show how abortion and the Equal Rights Amendment will contribute to voters’ decisions in 2024.
“I think it really clarifies where these battles are going to be waged,” said Spillar. “It’s on these issues and they’re great motivators for women voters.”
Research Associate Emma Waters from The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, shared a similar sentiment. “Abortion access, whether it be wanting to limit it for pro-life reasons or wanting to further it for pro-abortion reasons, is and will likely be a driving force in the 2024 election,” she said.
Greta Bedekovics, an associate director at the Center for American Progress, a progressive policy institute, said that she doesn’t see voter motivation decreasing anytime soon even though the primary election isn’t until next year. There’s already one statewide abortion-related measure certified for the ballot in Ohio for November 2023, and two for 2024, one in New York and another in Maryland.
Bedekovics said as Election Day approaches, these measures will likely incentivize people to go to the polls.
“I think we could actually be seeing an increase,” Bedekovics said. “And I think that’s similarly why states are putting action into their own hands and putting these measures on the ballot.”