About
About COVID States
Learn about the project →
People
Meet the consortium →
Learning
Hands-on training→
Publications
Reports
Read all of our reports →
Journal Publications
Read selected project papers →
Topics
Children and Youth
Explore this topic →
Economic Impact
Explore this topic →
Election
Explore this topic →
Executive Approval
Explore this topic →
Health Behavior
Explore this topic →
Mental Health
Explore this topic →
Misinformation
Explore this topic →
Policy Preferences
Explore this topic →
Schools
Explore this topic →
Testing
Explore this topic →
Vaccination
Explore this topic →
Other
Explore this topic →
Browse by Tag →
Data
Behaviors during COVID
View the tracker →
COVID-19 Tweets
View the tracker→
Trust in Institutions
View the tracker→
Vaccination Rates
View the tracker→
Views on Abortion
View the tracker→
Media Coverage
News articles
View selected media coverage →
Journalist resources
Inquiries →
Insights

Join Mailing ListContact Us
Home
About
About COVID States
Learn about the project →
People
Meet the consortium →
Publications
Reports
Read all of our reports →
Journal Publications
Read selected project papers →
Topics
Children and Youth
Explore this topic →
Economic Impact
Explore this topic →
Election
Explore this topic →
Executive Approval
Explore this topic →
Health Behavior
Explore this topic →
Mental Health
Explore this topic →
Misinformation
Explore this topic →
Policy Preferences
Explore this topic →
Schools
Explore this topic →
Testing
Explore this topic →
Vaccination
Explore this topic →
Other
Explore this topic →
Data
Behaviors During COVID
View the dashboard→
COVID-19 Tweets
View the dashboard→
Trust in Institutions
View the dashboard→
Vaccination Rates
View the dashboard→
Media Coverage
News articles
View selected news coverage →
Journalist resources
Inquiries→
Insights

Report #

89

The Dobbs Decision, Support for Abortion, and 2022 Voting

By the COVID-19 Consortium for Understanding the Public’s Policy Preferences Across States

Home
/
Publications
/
Reports
/
The Dobbs Decision, Support for Abortion, and 2022 Voting

Key takeaways


● Overall support for abortion across all nine scenarios increased following the Dobbs decision, with increases ranging from 1 to 5 percentage points. Among respondents for whom the abortion issue is “extremely important”, the corresponding increases were larger, ranging from 2 to 8 percentage points. 

● Support for abortion increases or remains the same between the pre- and post-Dobbs periods for all nine scenarios, regardless of intent to vote, but increases modestly more consistently among respondents who are not “very likely” to vote. 

● Across most demographic subgroups, we see little change in the overall probability of voting following the Dobbs decision. There are three exceptions – men, rural residents, and respondents with a high school education or less - each of whom are statistically significantly less likely to say that they are “very likely” to vote in the 2022 midterm election following the Dobbs announcement. 

● Overall, we find that individuals who consider abortion to be an “extremely important” issue are substantially more likely to support Democrats retaining control of both houses of Congress. These gaps, in turn, increase modestly following the Dobbs announcement. For the House of Representatives, the gaps prior to and following the Dobbs announcement are 11 and 14 points in favor of Democrats, respectively. For the Senate election, the corresponding gaps are 12 and 13 points in favor of Democrats, pre- and post-Dobbs, respectively. 

● In the 13 states with so-called “trigger laws” that automatically imposed restrictions or prohibitions on abortion following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, public opinion moved in the opposing direction as public policy – that is, toward greater support for abortion across the nine scenarios – by 3 to 9 percentage points. Such increases were even larger among respondents in those states who indicated that abortion was “extremely important”, with maximum increases in support of 12 to 14 percentage points. 

‍

Featured media Coverage

September 28, 2022

Pennsylvania voters rank economy, abortion as top election issues in a new poll

NPR
August 25, 2022

4 reasons why abortion laws often clash with the majority’s preferences in the US, from constitutional design to low voter turnout

The Conversation

Tags




Report details

Published:
July
2022
Report Number:
89
Topic:
Other
OSF Preprint:
View  
Download report   

Related Reports

Report #
97
January
2023
Twitter, Social Media, and Elon Musk
Other

Report #
94
November
2022
American Attitudes Towards Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine
Other

Report #
92
October
2022
The Mar-A-Lago Search
Other

Report #
90
August
2022
Utilization Rates of Antivirals for COVID-19
Other

Join our mailing list to receive updates about new reports, findings, and datasets!
Join Mailing List
A multi-university collaboration
About
About COVID States
People
Learning
Insights
Publications
Reports
Journal Publications
Topics
Children and Youth
Economic Impact
Election
Executive Approval
Health Behavior
Mental Health
Misinformation
Policy Preferences
Schools
Testing
Vaccination
Other
Data
Behaviors during COVID
COVID-19 Tweets
Trust in Institutions
Vaccination Rates
Views on Abortion
Media
News articles
Journalist resources
© 2022  The COVID-19 Consortium for Understanding the Public’s Policy Preferences Across States
Contact us