ST. LOUIS – Missouri voters would support ballot measures or initiatives to legalize abortion and sports betting if presented in upcoming state elections, new research finds.

Saint Louis University and YouGov PLC conducted a poll last month on policy views ahead of the 2024 general election, collecting responses from more than 900 perspective Missouri voters.

Poll results reveal the following trends:

• Around 44% of poll respondents would support a ballot measure to legalize abortion in the state, while 37% would oppose such a measure, and 19% are currently unsure.

• Around 60% of poll respondents would support a ballot initiative to legalize sports betting in the state, while 25% would oppose such a measure, and 14% are currently unsure.

Poll results suggest that Missouri voters would back an abortion ballot initiative by a slim margin.

According to poll findings, respondents who identified as Democrats voiced overwhelming support for such a ballot measure (71% support vs. 11% opposition), while Republican respondents indicated that they would not support it, though by a slimmer margin of difference (24% support vs. 56% opposition).

After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Missouri’s Republican-led Legislature moved to ban almost all abortions. Only abortions in cases deemed “medical emergencies” are legal in Missouri now.

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Abortion rights advocates in Missourians for Constitutional Freedom are pushing for a ballot measure through Missouri’s initiative petition process, looking to amend Missouri’s constitution with a law that would make abortion legal until viability.

To place the issue on this November’s ballot, the campaign needs to collect around 180,000 signatures in support of the petition and turn the signatures in to the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office by May 5.

“The proposed ballot language was contested [on the ballot initiative petition] in the courts and is not perfectly clear,” said Steven Rogers, Ph.D., SLU/YouGov Poll Director and associate professor of Political Science at Saint Louis University. “Some respondents may have been confused by the ballot language. Abortion advocates will likely need to educate voters about what the ballot language means.”

The initiative petition process could also be the path to legalizing sports betting in Missouri. Campaign leaders say they have more than half of the required signatures needed to place it on Missouri ballots. The initiative would allow each of Missouri’s 13 casinos and six professional sports teams to offer onsite and mobile sports betting.

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Politics

The poll also collected data on views on open enrollment, a hot topic of discussion in the Missouri Legislature, could allow Missouri students to enroll in public schools outside of the district where they live. The Missouri House has approved a measure for it in January, and legislation is currently making rounds in the Senate.

Around 59% of poll respondents would support open enrollment in the state, while 30% would oppose such a measure, and 11% are currently unsure.

Poll results also showed that Missouri voters would also generally favor the legalization of lottery gaming machines in bars and truck stops (54% support to 31% opposition), death penalty in first-degree murder cases (62% support to 24% opposition) and eliminating a state sales tax on groceries (81% support to 13% opposition).

SLU and YouGov collected responses between Feb. 14-26. The organizations say the margin of error for the full survey sample is roughly 3.72%.

For the full poll results, click here.

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