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Poll: Americans Support Roe v. Wade Decision by 2-to-1 Margin

Both men and women and all racial groups agree with 1973 SCOTUS decision to strike down restrictive state abortion laws

Pro-choice and pro-life demonstrators rally outside of the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday morning, June 20, 2016. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Pro-choice and pro-life demonstrators rally outside of the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday morning, June 20, 2016. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)

Men and women in the U.S. agree by a two-to-one margin with the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision to strike down state laws restricting access to abortion, a new poll found.

As President Donald Trump prepares to select his nominee next Monday to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy on the high court, the abortion issue has once again taken center stage in the nation’s political discourse.

Kennedy, a moderate conservative, sided with his more liberal colleagues on a number of issues, including abortion rights and paving the way to legalizing gay marriage.

Sixty-one percent of men and 65 percent of women agree with Kennedy and the court’s 1973 decision to limit restrictive state abortion laws to the third trimester of pregnancy, according to voters sampled for a Quinnipiac University poll released Monday.

Pollsters surveyed 1,020 voters nationwide between June 27 and July 1 via live phone interviews. The survey has a margin of error of +/- 3.7 percentage points.

“There is no ambivalence on abortion as men and women dig in and say, ‘Hands off Roe v. Wade,’” Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac poll, said in a statement Monday.

Most Democrats and Independents support Roe v. Wade: 84 percent of Democrats and 68 percent of Independents said they agree with the landmark decision. Just 36 percent of Republicans are in favor of Roe v. Wade, while 58 percent oppose it.

Unanimous agreement on the court’s longstanding abortion opinion reached across all racial groups, with 71 percent of black, 62 percent of white, and 59 percent of Hispanic polled voters in favor.

In the 7-2 Roe V. Wade decision, the majority said in its opinion that a woman’s right to privacy under the due process clause of the 14th Amendment extends to her decision to terminate her pregnancy in the first two trimesters.

Republicans hold a one-seat majority in the Senate and need at least 50 votes to confirm Trump’s nominee with Vice President Mike Pence breaking the tie.

But with Sen. John McCain at home in Arizona for cancer treatment, Democrats need just one Republican to defect in order to block the confirmation with a 50-49 vote.

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