A new poll Tuesday by Rasmussen Reports finds that half of the country approves of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last week to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision and send the issue of abortion back to the states.
The poll, released Tuesday, found that 50% of the people approve of the court's decision last week to overturn the federal right to abortion granted under the almost 50-year-old Roe v. Wade decision, and send the issue back to the individual states to decide, including 38% who "strongly approve" of the court's ruling.
Just under half — 45% — of those surveyed disapproved of the decision, including 38% who "strongly disapproved," according to the poll.
The court issued its 6-3 opinion on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health last Friday that overturned the Roe decision and 1992's Casey case that determined that a woman seeking an abortion could be required to give her "informed consent" before the procedure, saying that abortion is not a right granted in the Constitution, and that federal government "has no authority" in the matter, which should be regulated by the states.
"We do not pretend to know how our political system or society will respond to today's decision overruling Roe and Casey," Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority. "And even if we could foresee what will happen, we would have no authority to let that knowledge influence our decision.
"We can only do our job, which is to interpret the law, apply longstanding principles of stare decisis, and decide this case accordingly. We therefore hold that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion. Roe and Casey must be overruled, and the authority to regulate abortion must be returned to the people and their elected representatives."
The Rasmussen poll found that the decision had 75% support from republicans, compared to 71% of Democrats disapproving the ruling.
Unaffiliated voters were more evenly split on the issue with 53% approving and 42% disapproving the decision, according to the poll.
Just over half — 52% — of those surveyed identified as being "pro-choice," while 41% identified as "pro-life."
Those surveyed overwhelmingly said the issue will play a major role in November's midterm elections, with 75% saying it will be important, including 54% that said it will be "very important."
Most of those, 72% of Democrats, see the issue as very important in the elections, while less than half of Republicans (41%), and unaffiliated voters (47%) view it as a very important factor in their voting decision.
The poll of 1,000 likely voters was conducted by telephone June 26-27 and has a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points, and was performed by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC, according to the organization.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.