Most Americans oppose overturning Roe v. Wade decision

Most Americans oppose overturning the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade precedent, according to a new CNN Poll conducted by SSRS, with a majority saying that if the decision was vacated, they’d want to see their own state move toward more permissive abortion laws.

Just 30% of Americans say they’d like to see the Supreme Court completely overturn its Roe vs. Wade decision, with 69% opposed — a finding that’s largely consistent both with other recent polling and with historical trends. In a set of three surveys taken last autumn by different pollsters, support for overturning Roe v. Wade stood between 20% and 31%, depending on the precise framing of the question. And in CNN’s polling dating back to 1989, the share of the public in favor of completely overturning Roe has never risen above 36%.

Fifty-nine percent of Americans say that if Roe v. Wade were overturned, they’d like their state to set laws that are more permissive than restrictive toward abortion, a preference that stands in opposition to the prediction most make that abortions would likely be restricted or banned in the areas where they live. Another 40% say they’d like their state to set more restrictive laws.

Today marks the 49th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, which established the constitutional right to an abortion, at least in the first three months of pregnancy. Six in 10 Americans, including 68% of women, say they personally know someone who’s had an abortion.

The precedent set by the decision might be overturned by the Court’s upcoming decision in a case revolving around a Mississippi abortion law. If so, access to abortion could be banned or restricted in many Republican-led states across the country.

But the poll finds few in favor of that outcome should the precedent fall. Just 20% would like to see their state ban abortion completely if Roe is overturned and 20% would like to see their state restrict, but not ban, abortions.

On the other side, 52% of the public said in the CNN poll that they would like to see their state become a “safe haven” for women who want abortions but can’t get them where they live, with another 7% favoring more permissive laws but not wanting their state to become a “safe haven.”

Expectations break the other way, though. Nearly one-quarter of Americans, 23%, say they think it’s likely abortions would be completely banned in their area if Roe were overturned, with 32% predicting abortions would become harder to get, and 14% there wouldn’t be a change in the availability of abortions. Another 30% aren’t sure how their area might be affected.