More Americans Want Roe V. Wade To Remain Law: Marist Poll

NEW YORK — If the United States Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, which made abortion legal throughout the country in 1973, that will be against the wishes of almost two-thirds of Americans.

That is one of the findings of an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist National Poll released Thursday.

According to the Marist Poll, 64 percent of Americans don't think Roe v. Wade should be overturned, while 33 percent think it should be struck down.

Similarly, a 2020 Kaiser Family Foundation survey showed 27 percent supported nixing the ruling and 69 percent wanted to see it stay in place.

Even though current opinion falls along party lines, Marist said even 34 percent of Republicans oppose overturning the landmark ruling on women's rights.

Since Politico reported on a draft of Justice Samuel Alito's majority opinion May 2, there's been speculation about whether actually overturning abortion rights or even the suggestion of getting this close to doing so would affect the midterm elections in November.

Marist's survey said that it is indeed likely to increase voter turnout.

Forty-nine percent of Americans, including half of voters, said it will make them more likely to vote in November. While 25 percent said it would make no difference, only 4 percent said it would make them less likely to vote. Twenty-one percent said they hadn't heard about the leak.

Democrats — at 66 percent — were more likely than Republicans — 40 percent — to say a reversal of the Supreme Court on Roe would increase their likelihood to show up at the polls.

The Marist Poll said the Democrats have the current advantage in the midterm elections despite a 39 percent job approval rating for President Joe Biden. His score is down from 41 percent of Americans last month, with 15 percent saying they strongly approve of the president's job performance and 42 percent strongly disapprove.

Lee M. Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, said there is a notable plus 8-point difference between the support congressional Democrats receive nationally for the midterm elections and Biden's approval rating.

"Given the historical connection between a president's job performance and how his party fares in his first midterm election," he said, "this bears watching."

Speaking of job approval, the Marist Poll found that Americans' faith in the highest court in the land is shaken.

The poll survey said 56 percent of Americans say they have little or no confidence at all in the Supreme Court, with 40 percent having a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in SCOTUS. That represents a turnaround from when the question was asked in February and July 2018. Nearly six in 10 Americans said then that they had a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the High Court.

The NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll of 1,304 adults, age 18 or older living in the United States, was conducted May 9-13. The margin of error is ±3.9 percentage points.