Abortion rights are favored by Ohioans
Ohio has elected a bevy of statewide officeholders who oppose abortion rights, but a poll released Friday indicates most Ohioans want women to have the right to an abortion.
Such apparent contradictions happen all the time, says Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.
The survey found Buckeye State voters agree with the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which declared abortion a constitutional right nationwide, 61% to 32%.
The poll also showed that the heartbeat law, signed by Gov. Mike Dewine in April but prevented from taking effect by a federal judge this month, is opposed 52% to 39%. The law would have made abortion illegal once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, generally around six weeks into pregnancy.
Few Americans are singleissue voters, meaning they could have voted for Dewine and others who style themselves as “pro life” for many reasons other than abortion, Brown said. Plus the heartbeat bill was passed only after years of intense lobbying by supporters, who see the law as a possible route to overturn Roe v. Wade in a newly constituted Supreme Court.
And sometimes, polls simply show that “public opinion is split from elite opinion,” Brown said. “When it comes to the thorny political issue of abortion, Ohio voters come down on the pro-choice side.”
Aaron Baer, head of Citizens for Community Values, tweeted: “The abortion industry can keep celebrating bogus polls. We’ll keep passing laws to save babies and women from the pain of abortion.”
However, state Rep. Rich Brown, D-canal Winchester, cited the poll results in saying,
“As legislators, we should be respecting the clear will of our constituents and stop wasting public tax dollars on these unpopular, unconstitutional and unconscionable antichoice bills.”
Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio tweeted: “Poll after poll, results show that Americans and Ohioans support access to safe, legal abortion. The numbers don’t lie. We need more legislators standing with us, not working against us.”
Given four options, poll participants broke down their stance on abortion this way: 22% say abortion should be legal in all cases; 33% say it should be legal in most cases; 27% say it should be illegal in most cases; 10% say it should be illegal in all cases; and 8% didn’t know or didn’t answer.
On another hot-button issue, 90% of Ohio voterssupport background checks for all gun purchases. A group currently is circulating a petition to bring that requirement before the legislature as a possible precursor to a 2020 statewide vote.
But the matter of greater
gun regulations overall draws greater division: 48% of Ohio voters support stricter gun laws, 46% are opposed.
Dewine’s job performance wins approval from 44% of Ohio voters, while 33% give the GOP governor who took office in January a thumbs down.
Fellow Republican Rob Portman, a second-term U.S. senator, receives approval from 43% of Ohio voters, but a negative rating from 31%.
Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who won a third term last year and considered running for president this year, gets approval from 51% anddisapproval from 29%.
The telephone poll from July 17 through Monday by the Connecticut university of 1,431 Ohio voters has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points overall. Of the poll participants, 35% identified themselves as Republican, 29% as Democratic and 28% as independent, while 8% didn’t know or answer.