Voters expect abortion to be a prominent issue going into the 2024 election, and Democrats — who have embraced abortion without limits — hold a double-digit advantage over Republicans, a poll found.
More than three-quarters (77 percent) of likely voters say abortion will be an important issue heading into next year, including 48 percent who say it will be “very important,” according to a Rasmussen Reports survey of 987 respondents between November 8-9. The margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points at a 95 percent level of confidence.
The survey found that 47 percent of likely U.S. voters trust Democrats more than Republicans (36 percent) to handle abortion, an 11-point difference. Seventeen percent of respondents are undecided. Another poll in May showed Democrats only leading by three points on the issue.
More than half of likely voters (54 percent) identify themselves as generally “pro-choice,” and 38 percent as pro-life. By political affiliation, 75 percent of Democrats identify as “pro-choice,” as do 33 percent of GOP voters and 53 percent of unaffiliated voters. Only 20 percent of Democrats identify as pro-life, as do 60 percent of Republicans, and 36 percent of unaffiliated voters.
Democrats are the most likely (58 percent) to believe abortion will be “very important” in 2024, compared to 41 percent of Republicans and 42 percent of unaffiliated voters, the survey found.
“Eighty-five percent (85 percent) of Democrats trust their own party more to handle the abortion issue, while 73 percent of Republicans trust the GOP more. Among unaffiliated voters, 36 percent trust Democrats more on abortion, 33 percent trust Republicans more and 31 percent are undecided,” according to the poll report.
Women are significantly more likely than men to consider themselves “pro-choice,” 60 percent to 47 percent. Women also trust Democrats by a 20-point margin to handle the issue of abortion over Republicans, 52 percent to 32 percent. Men are more evenly divided as to which party they trust to handle the issue, the poll found.
Sixty-six percent of black voters consider themselves to be “pro-choice” and trust Democrats more to handle the issue, while 53 percent of white voters and 51 percent of other minorities agree.
“Voters under 40 are more likely to identify as pro-choice, and also more likely to expect that abortion will be a Very Important issue in the 2024 election,” the poll further found. “Breaking down the electorate by income categories, voters in the highest bracket – earning more than $200,000 a year – are most likely to identify as pro-choice and also most likely to trust Democrats more to handle abortion.”
Overall, more “pro-choice” voters (59 percent) than pro-life voters (37 percent) think abortion will be “very important” in the 2024 presidential election.
