This Will Be Getting a Lot of Attention

Gallup's latest polling on abortion makes for a pretty depressing headline: "Pro-Choice" Americans at Record-Low 41%.

And, you know, it's not good news that 41% of USians identify as "pro-choice" while 50% identify as "pro-life."

image of trend chart showing the above-referenced stats

But it's not actually as bad as it sounds, either: "Gallup's longest-running measure of abortion views, established in 1975, asks Americans if abortion should be legal in all circumstances, legal only under certain circumstances, or illegal in all circumstances" and that question finds only 20% of respondents who want to fully criminalize abortion.

25% of respondents say abortion should be legal in all circumstances, and 52% say abortion should be legal in some circumstances, meaning 77% of USians still favor keeping abortion legal in some form.

image of trend chart showing the above-referenced stats

That is overwhelming support for legal abortion, which a headline like "only 41% are pro-choice!" doesn't indicate at all.

Conservative strategists are extremely good at demonizing language, and they've successfully turned "pro-choice" toxic in much the same way they did "liberal." But they haven't successfully made support for legal abortion unpopular.

We still have a lot of work to do, but we already knew that.

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