Support for Legal Abortion Drops

Support for legal abortion has declined over the last two years while the percentage of those opposing it has grown, according to a Pew Research Center poll conducted during August.

Forty-seven percent of those surveyed say abortion should be legal while 44 percent say it should be illegal. Nine percent are undecided. That compares to 54 percent who said they supported abortion in 2007/2008 and 40 percent who opposed it, with 6 percent undecided. The margin of error for this August's survey is two points.

Support for abortion among self-described Democrats slipped in this period from 64 percent to 60 percent. It fell from 39 percent to 30 percent among Republicans and from 56 percent to 47 percent among independents. Among the Democrats, there was a gender gap: support among men has dropped 9 points while support is unchanged among women.

There was a significant turnaround among Protestants. They now oppose legal abortion, by 52 percent to 39 percent with 9 percent undecided, compared to 2007/2008 when they were almost evenly divided at 48 percent favoring and 47 percent against. Catholics, who previously supported legal abortion 53 percent to 42 percent with 5 percent undecided , are now evenly divided at 45 percent on each side with 10 percent undecided. Support among Jewish-Americans dropped from 86 percent to 76 percent.

Other polls have found different results. New York Times/CBS News polls have found public views on abortion essentially unchanged, while a June Washington Post/ABC News poll showed that 55 percent believed abortion should be legal in most or all cases, compared to 43 percent who said it should not.

For a comprehensive analysis of this poll, see David Gibson's story.