Seven in ten Americans want to have their say on state-level abortion laws

Seven in ten Americans want Kansas-style abortion ballots in their own state, and Republicans are even keener to hold local votes than Democrats, says a new poll with major implications for the upcoming midterm elections.

Ipsos pollsters found that 70 percent of adults wanted state-level ballots on abortion. This included 73 percent of Democrats and a bigger share — 77 percent — of Republicans wishing to have their say in their state’s rules on abortion.

The poll of some 1,000 adults, conducted this past weekend, also found that, if voters could decide on abortion-related state ballot measures, 54 percent would allow procedures and 28 percent would oppose them.

In such a vote, however, supporters of the two main parties would be split. While 76 percent of Democrats would back legalized abortions, only 34 percent of Republicans would support the procedures.

‘With abortion no longer a constitutional right, Americans want their voice heard on the issue,’ said Mallory Newall, an Ipsos vice president.

The Supreme Court in June overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion and punted the issue to the states — some of which already had trigger laws in place to outlaw the procedures.

Kansas voters last week overwhelmingly rejected a state-level abortion ban, as voters elsewhere ready to vote in similar ballot measures, and as courts and lawmakers across the U.S. grapple with the realities of a post-Roe America. 

Wyoming judge Melissa Owens on Wednesday blocked the state’s near-total ban on abortion from taking effect, calling the law ‘discriminatory’ and suggesting that legal efforts to overturn it would succeed.

Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts, a Republican, on Monday said he would not convene the state legislature for a special session on stricter abortion laws because Republican lawmakers did not have the votes to pass a ban.

Indiana’s legislature last week became the first in the U.S. to pass new legislation restricting access to abortions since the Supreme Court’s decision. It includes exceptions in cases of rape and incest and to protect the health of the mother. 

Republican voters in Wisconsin and Minnesota on Tuesday respectively nominated Tim Michels and Scott Jensen — two opponents of abortion — for governor of their states, ensuring the issue of terminations features in those races in November’s general election.

The nearly 20-point win by supporters of legal abortions in Kansas, a conservative state, was an indication that the Supreme Court decision was energizing Democrats and could hurt Republicans in November’s midterm elections.

Even voters in many rural, conservative areas of Kansas voted for legal abortions, in what was a big victory for pro-choice groups after weeks in which many southern and Midwest states restricted or banned the procedure.

In the coming months, voters in Montana, Kentucky, California and elsewhere will have a chance to weigh in on abortions, and the issue is likely to impact House, Senate and governor races across the U.S.

Some 55 percent of voters say access to abortions is ‘very important’ to how they will vote in November, according to recent polling by KFF, a health policy group, higher than in previous surveys.