Public opinion on gun control and abortion has swayed conservative since a decade ago, particularly in the past year, despite–and possibly in response to–the recent election of the second Democratic president in three decades.

Get the new
PD toolbar!

A Pew Research Center report published Thursday detailed the trends among Americans, with the greatest changes in the opinions of men.

Overall, support for the protection of gun owners' rights increased in the past decade, rising from just 30 percent in May of 1999 to 45 percent in April of 2009. Only 49 percent of those recently surveyed support measures to control gun ownership, compared to a 65 percent majority in 1999.

The report notes that this is "the first time in a Pew Research survey [that] nearly as many people believe it is more important to protect the right of Americans to own guns than to control gun ownership."

In the past year alone, support among men to protect gun owners' rights increased by 11 percent, from 46 to 57 percent. Although women still favor gun control, support dropped from 64 percent to 60 percent since April 2008.

Public opinion on abortion has practically leveled, with the least discrepancy overall since 2001 and by far the lowest support of legality comparing data as far back as 1995, demonstrating a sharp conservative change in opinion compared to more liberal historical data.

Only 46 percent of recent survey respondents agreed that abortion should be legal in all or most cases, with 44 percent having stated the contrary. The gap has been typically 10 percent or greater throughout the past decade and a half. Overall support of the legality of abortion has dropped 8 percent since August 2008, alone.

The greatest change in support of abortion was among men, dropping from 53 to only 43 percent. Although still a conservative change in opinion, support among women only dropped 5 percent, from 54 to 49 percent.


Follow PoliticsDaily On Facebook and Twitter,
and download the new Politics Daily toolbar!