Poll: Growing majority of Americans want Congress to restore Roe v. Wade protections nationwide

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Could abortion policy be the deciding factor in the 2024 election? A new Yahoo News/YouGov poll shows a full 54% of Americans (and 56% of registered voters) now want Congress to pass “a law that keeps abortion as legal and accessible as it was nationwide under Roe v. Wade,” — the highest level of public support for making Roe the “law of the land” since Yahoo News and YouGov started asking about the issue in spring 2022. Yahoo News National Correspondent Andrew Romano breaks down the numbers and their potential impact on the presidential election.

Video Transcript

ANDREW ROMANO: The new "Yahoo News/ YouGov" poll shows that a clear majority of Americans and registered voters want Congress to pass a law restoring the protections of "Roe v. Wade" and keeping abortion as legal as it was for 50 years nationwide. That's the highest level of support we've seen in our poll and it may reflect the developments in the States. It comes on the heels of Arizona reinstating an 1864 law that bans abortion in almost all instances.

That Arizona law is extremely unpopular with Americans. 57% of Americans oppose reinstating it. Just 25% are in support of bringing it back. What this underscores is how tricky the politics of abortion are for Republicans and for Donald Trump.

KAMALA HARRIS: Former President Donald Trump did this.

ANDREW ROMANO: The thing to watch here is how Republicans respond. Donald Trump has tried to distance himself from laws like Arizona's.

DONALD TRUMP: The judge made a ruling, but that's going to be changed by government. They're going to be changing that. I disagree with that.

ANDREW ROMANO: But there are Republican lawmakers in the States and in Washington who want these near-total abortion bans. So it's a conflict within the Republican Party heading into the 2024 election.

MIKE JOHNSON: Look, I'm pro-life. You're pro-life. This is our belief. Our party has always been pro-life. November, we have a big choice.

ANDREW ROMANO: Joe Biden's position is that Congress should pass a law codifying the protections of Roe.

PRESIDENT BIDEN: If you the American people send me to Congress to support the right to choose, I promise you I will restore "Roe v. Wade" as the law of the land again.

ANDREW ROMANO: That's very popular with voters. Donald Trump's position is that it should be left up to the states.

DONALD TRUMP: Some will have more conservative than others. And that's what they will be.

ANDREW ROMANO: But when voters see what individual states have done and will do in the future, bring back laws like Arizona's passed new abortion bans, they don't like it.