From anger and anguish to celebration and gratitude. The Supreme
Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade shook national politics
and sparked a national response that's playing out in cities and
states across the country. As of today, abortion is illegal in eight
states that had so called trigger laws in place For this very moment.
Five more states will ban abortion within weeks.
And already today, courts have blocked bands from going into effect
in several other states. Our latest PBS news hour NPR Maris poll
reveals how Americans are reacting and we turned to Lisa Desjardin
to walk us through at least a welcome
How Americans feeling today about this decision? This is something
we really want to look at, of course in the poll, and I want to start
first of all with an unusual spot, which is the experience Americans
have. How familiar are they with abortion in their own lives? We
asked Americans whether they or anyone they know, including themselves,
have had an abortion and here's what they told us.
We saw 66% of the people answered. Our poll either know someone or
they themselves have had an abortion That is two thirds of this country
that has a personal experience with abortion. So then that brings
you to the next question, By the way, one thing about that. That
was the only question Paul where a majority of Americans answered.
Yes, from every demographic every way of life. A majority of Americans
have all had that experience.
So where are they? Exactly? On the court's decision. When you asked,
Do you support the court's decision to overturn movie weighed? 56%
of Americans say No. Now let's take a deeper dive. When we look at
this in terms of age of Americans, we see something interesting here.
The youngest Americans, Gen. Z and Millennials, that's overwhelmingly
two thirds. No, but look at that group in between. Gen X
Talking 40 year olds to 56 year old. That group is split with just
barely a majority, saying no, So that's sort of where the divide
is in the country in terms of generations on this question, and I
think you can see that as families are probably having these discussions
over the next holiday weekends.
The questions, of course about how Americans respond to the outcome
itself The verdict self But what do Americans think about the court
itself and and how it came to this decision? We've been asking about
this for a while and we wanted to ask a very particular question
about this decision. We asked people do you think the court's decision
to overturn Roe was based on
Politics. Was it political or was it based on law? Was it legal?
No surprise. We saw an astounding split by political belief. Democrats
believe Look at that 84% of them said This was based on politics.
Only 13% of Democrats believe this was based on law.
The other way around for Republicans little bit little bit not quite
as firmly in favor of the Supreme Court based on law. But basically
it's two thirds of Republicans believe that this was based on law.
Now this is this is showing you that what's happened here is the
court is political now that people see it in a political lens. Overall,
we also had in this poll again affirmation that a majority of Americans
do not trust the Supreme Court from 58% now just amazing. We've talked
about this, of course before, but with the decision final
Ah, it's expected to energize many voters, of course come November.
Any sense of which side will benefit from that greater energy did
shed some light on that. So let's start with a big broad question.
Do you support abortion rights? And we ask all Americans together?
55% of the country says Yes. Now
There's a lot of nuance to whether you support abortion rights are
not right. And what does that mean? At what point in pregnancy are
you talking about? But in general, when you ask that broad question,
you get 55% of the country saying Yes. Now, if you look by party
here again is a big split.
That same kind of Democrat Republicans split. But look at that independent
green at the bottom 59% of independence say that they do in fact
support abortion rights. Those could be decisive voters in the fall.
And so of course, we wanted to ask another question, which is exactly
what you're getting at who is more energized. We ask specifically,
are you more likely to vote in the fall because of the Supreme Court's
decision?
78% of Democrats said Yes, Some Republicans also are more likely
to vote, but it's a lower number independence. Now that number means
the most to me. Honestly, Nick in a way, because
Those independents. We know that most of them do not agree with the
Supreme Court's decision, so Democrats what they have to do keep
this in momentum for their side and also convinced those independents
and it's worth showing up on this issue.
Many months from now. People feel very motivated about it now, will
they? In a few months we will find out and breaking it down. As always,