{"id":205735,"date":"2019-07-02T13:46:18","date_gmt":"2019-07-02T18:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=205735"},"modified":"2019-07-02T15:57:01","modified_gmt":"2019-07-02T20:57:01","slug":"surprise-gallup-poll-pro-life-views-increasing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/surprise-gallup-poll-pro-life-views-increasing\/","title":{"rendered":"SURPRISE: Gallup poll shows that pro-life views are increasing"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(National Review<\/a>) Last week, Gallup released its annual public-opinion poll<\/a>\u00a0on abortion policy, and its results contain some good news for abortion opponents.\u00a0According to the survey, a plurality of Americans now identify as pro-life, with 49 percent of respondents calling themselves \u201cpro-life,\u201d and 46 percent calling themselves \u201cpro-choice.\u201d This is the first Gallup poll since 2013 in which a higher percentage of respondents identified as \u201cpro-life\u201d rather than \u201cpro-choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new survey also found that the percentage of Americans who think abortion should either be \u201cillegal in all circumstances\u201d or \u201clegal in only a few circumstances\u201d increased from 53 to 60 percent between 2018 and 2019. A Gallup poll<\/a> conducted in May, meanwhile, found that the percentage of Americans who consider abortion immoral reached 50 percent for the first time since 2012.<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Slate: Polls show majority, including women, oppose taxpayer-funded abortion<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This gain in public support for the pro-life position is more significant than many observers realize. There is some evidence that pro-life sentiment tends to wane during Republican presidential administrations, as well as when abortion opponents are poised to make substantial policy gains. Some pro-life observers have been concerned that efforts to enact abortion limitations in Alabama, Georgia, Missouri, and a handful of other states might result in a public-opinion backlash. This new Gallup poll illustrates that this likely has not been the case. In fact, it is entirely possible that aggressive efforts by Democrats to make abortion policy more permissive in states such as New York, Vermont, and Illinois actually might have resulted in gains in pro-life sentiment.<\/p>\n