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The issue of abortion is motivating more Americans to head to the polls in the upcoming midterm elections, according to a new survey.
In a recent survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation, half of the respondents said the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in June has made them more motivated to vote in November, found. The figure is up from 43 percent in July, and 37 percent in May.
About two-thirds of Democratic voters say the high court's decision to strip away constitutional protections for abortion has motivated them to vote, compared to 49 percent of independents and 32 percent of Republicans.
The Kaiser survey found that overall, 40 percent of voters say their state's abortion laws have made them more motivated to vote this year.
The number is higher in states with an abortion ban in place, with 51 percent of voters saying it had motivated them to vote. In states with protections for abortion access, 32 percent said those laws had made them more motivated to vote.
There are now no abortion providers in 14 states, according to a recent report from the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights.
They include the 13 states that implemented total abortion bans after Roe's fall and Wisconsin, where clinics have stopped providing abortion services amid legal uncertainty over the state's pre-Roe ban.
Abortion bans appear to especially motivate Democrats: three in four Democratic or Democratic-leaning voters in states with full abortion bans said their state's laws have made them more motivated to vote in the midterm elections.
Women are also especially motivated by abortion rights, with 59 percent of women aged 18 to 49 saying the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe has made them more motivated to vote this year compared to previous elections.
Among those respondents who said the court's decision has made them more motivated to vote, 76 percent say they plan to vote for candidates who want to protect access to abortion. Just 17 percent say they plan to vote for candidates who want to limit abortion access.
"With a Democrat in the White House, Republicans start with an advantage in this year's midterm, especially on issues such as gas prices and crime, but their efforts to ban and criminalize abortion are backfiring on them politically, even in red states," Kaiser Family Foundation President and CEO Drew Altman said.
"Whether this motivates enough voters to hit the polls and change the outcome remains to be seen."
The survey also found that when motivated voters were asked to say in their own words who they are more motivated to vote in the upcoming elections compared to previous ones, about 9 percent cited the economy and inflation while a similar share (8 percent) said it was due to the abortion issue and reproductive rights.
A third (33 percent) said it was due to a desire for change, while about one in 10 mentioned democracy, voting rights and the importance of voting.
The findings of the survey come after Senator Bernie Sanders warned Democrats against focusing too much of their efforts on abortion in the coming weeks.
"There is no question but that Democrats must continue to focus on the right of women to control their own bodies," the independent from Vermont wrote in an op-ed.
But he added that "it would be political malpractice for Democrats to ignore the state of the economy and allow Republican lies and distortions" about inflation and the impacts of Democrats' domestic policies "to go unanswered" in the final weeks of the campaign.
About the writer
Khaleda Rahman is Newsweek's National Correspondent based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on education and national news. Khaleda ... Read more