Gallup Poll Shows Americans Incorrectly Believe Public Is Pro-Choice
A new Gallup poll released on Wednesday has found that although many Americans believe that the public is mostly pro-choice on the issue of abortion, they are in fact more likely to be pro-life.
"When asked how they think most Americans feel about the abortion issue, 51% of U.S. adults say the public is mostly 'pro-choice,' while 35% say 'pro-life,'" Gallup reports, adding that "the same poll finds that 48% of Americans call themselves pro-life and 45% pro-choice."
America largely remains divided on whether abortion should be legal or not, and at what stage after conception unborn babies should be protected by the law. The survey noted that political moderates are the most likely to believe that the pro-choice position receives the most support. Republicans, on the other hand, believe that 45 percent of people would vote pro-life, compared to 43 percent who would vote pro-choice.
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Gallup noted that among actual abortion views, the most likely to be pro-choice are those with no religious identity, with 80 percent supporting abortion rights and only 15 percent on the pro-life side. Liberals and democrats also heavily support pro-choice over pro-life views, at a two-to-one margin.
On the other side, two thirds of conservatives and Republican voted pro-life, and while religious views also vary on the issue, slight majorities of Catholics and Protestants identified as pro-life.
There were also notable differences in opinion between genders. Although 50 percent of men identified as pro-life, as opposed to 42 percent who picked pro-choice, 46 percent of women said they were pro-life – marginally less than the 47 percent who picked pro-choice.
Additionally, 50 percent of the youngest group of voters, 18-to-29 year olds, supported pro-choice views, compared to 41 percent who believed in pro-life. Thirty to 49 year olds were almost evenly split on the issue, while the older generations – those 50 to 64 and those 65 and older – were more likely to side with pro-life.
"While it is unclear what impact Americans' current perceptual errors might have on their behavior or on public policy relative to abortion and gay rights, it is possible their perceptions will catch up with reality if current attitudes are sustained for any length of time," Gallup offered.
The Gallup poll, which was conducted between May 2-7 and sampled 1,535 adults across all 50 U.S. states, says with 95 percent confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points.
In March, a new report came out suggesting that media might be exaggerating public support for abortion. The National Right to Life (NRL) pointed out that of the 1,502 people who answered the Pew Research Center's January poll questions about the 1973 Supreme Court decision on Roe. v. Wade, only 62 percent correctly identified that it concerns abortion.
That number decreased to 44 percent when the question was asked of people younger than 30, meaning that media reports of people saying they do not want to see the Supreme Court decision overturned may not be painting the entire picture.
What is more, 47 percent of respondents to Pew's poll said that it was morally unacceptable to have an abortion – compared to only 13 percent who said it was acceptable. Another 27 percent argued that abortion is not a moral issue, while 9 percent said that it depends on the situation.
"I blame the grownups in the room and the media for not clearly laying out what a historic moment Roe v. Wade was for our country and the true breadth of the pro-life movement," Penny Nance, president and CEO for Concerned Women for America, previously shared with The Christian Post. "It is up to parents and educators to make sure our children understand the true significance of Roe v. Wade."
"When we see things like the March for Life drawing out hundreds of thousands of people in the middle of January to march in remembrance of the lives lost to abortion, and the media practically ignoring it, I think we, as a nation, have failed to present both sides of the discussion, and accurately display public opinion on the issue," Nance added.
