NBC/WSJ poll: Majority, for first time, wants abortion to be legal

[cal04]

Source: Mark Murray, NBC News Senior Political Editor

As the 40th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision takes place on Tuesday, a majority of Americans – for the first time – believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

What’s more, seven in 10 respondents oppose Roe v. Wade from being overturned, which is the highest percentage on this question since 1989.

“These are profound changes,” says Republican pollster Bill McInturff, who conducted this survey with Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart and his colleagues.

McInturff adds that the abortion-related events and rhetoric over the past year – which included controversial remarks on abortion and rape by two Republican Senate candidates, as well as a highly charged debate over contraception – helped shaped these changing poll numbers.

Read more: http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/21/16626932-nbcwsj-poll-majority-for-first-time-wants-abortion-to-be-legal

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

1. The times, they are a changin'

[calimary]

7. Good One!!! Like this!

Wish I had a way to get rid of EVERY craven image of that beast.

[Ilsa]

16. The irony is that he wouldn't even fit into the GOP mold today.

Yet he did so much damage when he was president.

[Left Coast2020]

21. Try selling that to the assholes in the Mississippi legislature.

They've practically shut all the clinics down in that state--despite a federal law supporting abortion.

[valerief]

2. I guess they stopped polling only male Kansas Christians. nt

[bluestateguy]

3. Unpacking public opinion on this issue is complicated

Indeed, most Americans favor legalized abortion in most circumstances.

But many Americans call themselves personally pro-life and self-identify that way when talking to pollsters: as in they (if they are female, anyway) would never have an abortion themselves, they would like to see fewer abortions, but believe the procedure should be legal and the woman's choice. So some people who tell a pollster they are pro-life, then pivot to the pro-choice position when they are asked the Money Shot question that really counts about abortion's legality.

This tends to confuse people who look at polling on this issue, including many reporters who should know better.

[Old and In the Way]

4. Imagine being a Republican...

and supporting every issue that 60%+ of voting Americans are opposed to. Further imagine that you're losing ground at a faster rate than you can win converts...because your "base" is dying faster than you can win new voters to your rather primitive ideology. Just imagine...

[Politicub]

9. The square curmudgeon party is a more apt descriptor

But they must be hating life right now.

[AllyCat]

29. Bring in Gerry Mander to fix it all!

[PSPS]

5. "For the first time?" Another "reporter" who sent is a cereal box top for his degree, I see.

[calimary]

6. Yeah, no kidding. As far as I can remember, it's ALWAYS been that way.

Where are they getting this "for the first time" stuff?

[niyad]

8. that was my thought as well. "first time" indeed! where has this twit been for years?

[WinstonSmith4740]

17. My thoughts exactly!

Another example of "ask no questions" journalism. Just get your info from Fox News and The Heritage Foundation and put it out there!

[davepdx]

22. I think that the author of that piece was parsing their words carefully.

If you look at the "View the poll results here" link in the linked article you'll see Q32 which shows the following results to the question "Which comes closest to your view on abortion -- abortion should always be legal, should be legal most of the time, should be made illegal except in cases of rape, incest and to save the mother's life, or abortion should be made illegal without any exceptions?"

The survey results for 1/13 and 1/03 are (sorry this doesn't line up):
Always legal 31% 27%
Legal most of the time 23% 17%
Illegal, with exceptions 35% 40%
Illegal w/o any exceptions 9% 14%

The "always legal" and "legal most of the time" total 54% in the current survey. This is the first time (as far as the survey data presented in the report goes) that the majority want abortions to be legal, at least in most cases. That is 10% higher than 10 years ago (44%). This is real progress.

[Blue_Tires]

26. I don't really get the need for seperate second and third questions, though...

And like all polls, I'm curious to know how many people were asked, and the demographic breakdown...

[another_liberal]

10. More and more people are no longer afraid to speak . . .

More and more people are no longer afraid to speak out in favor of a woman's right to choose. The tide is clearly turning on this issue, as on so many more where the Ultra-Conservatives, Racists, Misogynists and War-Mongers are starting to lose their supposed grip on public opinion. The fear of a new "Blacklist" for taking progressive stances is fading fast.

[Chorophyll]

11. Hallelujah. It's about freaking time.

It's too bad that it took decades of Republican extremism coming to its (il)logical conclusion to make it happen, but whatever.

[iandhr]

12. Progress has always been slow

[Chorophyll]

24. Yup, and often it's one-step-forward, two-steps back.

[FiveGoodMen]

28. If you take one step forward and two steps back, you've just lost ground

If you keep that up, you back away into the distance until no one can even see you.

[24601]

13. Since when we we care about polls about rights confirmed by settled law? If it's a right, then

public opinion is irrelevant. Poles & votes matter only if Roe was wrongly decided.

[CranialRectaLoopback]

14. It shouldn't be too surprising.

Republicans usually oppose what the majority support.

[bucolic_frolic]

15. The Gerrymandered Statehouses and House Stand in the Way

And once they obliterate the Electoral College and make
Presidential Electors apportioned like Congressional seats,
as they are going to do in Pennsylvania, the situation will
only be worse.

It will take perhaps 15-30 years to correct this stranglehold
on Congress and the State Houses achieved through
Gerrymandering.

So how does this good news polling jive with political reality
in the states?

[krispos42]

18. Good.

Very good indeed.

[ReRe]

19. The report is propaganda.

Period. Bullshit. Don't get me started.

[leftynyc]

23. Instead of huffing fire

why don't you calmly explain why you think the report is bullshit?

[ReRe]

27. I was tired and in a foul mood...

...OK? First it was associated to the WSJ, then there was a Republican pollster, then it more or less indicated that there hadn't been a majority in favor of Roe v Wade until now.

[proReality]

20. Did they get that "for the first time" out of a cracked fortune cookie or something?

It has been this way since we began fighting for the right way back when.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

25. This is hard to believe ...

... that this is the first time. I can't believe that, until now, a majority wanted abortions to be illegal.

If it's true, then it's ABOUT FUCKING TIME!