POLL: Almost Half Of All Americans Oppose Abortion
The dramatic shift was led by Democrats and those under 45 years old
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According to a new poll by Marist, nearly half of all Americans oppose abortion and consider themselves "pro-life."
The poll suggests that 47 percent of Americans identify as "pro-life" and 47 percent "pro-choice."
The dramatic shift was led by Democrats and those under 45 years old, according to a survey taken Feb.12-17 following recent reports of states legalizing abortion up until birth.
"In a substantial, double-digit shift, according to the poll, Americans are now as likely to identify as pro-life (47 percent) as pro-choice (47 percent).
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"Just last month, a similar survey conducted by The Marist Poll found Americans more likely to identify as pro-choice than as pro-life by 17 percentage points (55 to 38 percent). Democrats moved in their pro-life identity from 20 percent to 34 percent," the poll said.
The poll revealed that almost 3 out of 4 Americans, 71 percent versus 25 percent, agree that should be “generally illegal during the third trimester.”
The poll, which was published by The Knights of Columbus on Monday, the same say the Senate prepared to take a roll call vote on legislation championed by Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., to protect babies who survive abortion.
According to The Daily Signal: Barbara Carvalho, director of The Marist Poll, said she credits the change in opinion to states seeking to allow abortion up to the point of birth.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, signed a bill Jan. 22 legalizing abortion up to birth. Similar legislation proposed in Virginia was voted down Jan. 28.
Those developments “have not gone unnoticed by the general public,” Carvalho said.
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“In just one month, there has been a significant increase in the proportion of Americans who see themselves as pro-life and an equally notable decline in those who describe themselves as pro-choice,” she said.
The Marist Poll is produced by the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, a survey research center at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York.
Melanie Israel, a research associate for the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society at The Heritage Foundation, said she accepts that the shift in public opinion is a result of the national focus on, and conversation about, proponents of allowing abortion as late as when the mother is giving birth.
Among the poll’s findings was that 80 percent of Americans want abortion limited to the first three months of pregnancy, a number that swelled by five points since last month.
“The current debate about late-term abortion has served as a clarifying moment to demonstrate just how extreme and out of touch the professional pro-abortion movement is with the rest of America,” Israel said.\
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump grilled New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo over his concerns about the state’s late-term abortion bill.
