Most Texans believe that abortion should be legal in Texas – Texan women and younger Texans, in particular. But this view at the state level in Texas is not quite as high as it is at the national level.
So, what might happen next? Three-quarters of Texans believe that women will continue to attempt abortions in Texas, even if the procedure is illegal, and even if it is unsafe for them to do so. A two-thirds majority believes that more children would be left behind if most abortions were illegal. By comparison, only half believe that more children will be adopted.
But Texans, who say abortion should be mostly illegal, hold more positive views on that front, and expect there will be more adoptions in the state. People who want to have an abortion legally have more negative opinions about what happens next.
The interviews in this survey were conducted prior to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, but respondents were asked about abortion in Texas and the implications of the annulment of Roe v. Wade; This result was, of course, widely expected after a Leaked draft weeks ago.
Different desires, different views of what’s to come
Those who want illegal abortions have a more positive view of public health services: they believe that more public services will be provided to pregnant women and new fathers now. It is not so, among those who wanted an abortion kept legal.
Texans who want abortion legal believe that making it illegal in Texas will mean that women have fewer economic and job opportunities, a view that most abortion opponents do not share.
More than half of Texans will make abortion legal in most cases in their state, split the rest between a third that makes it illegal in most (but not all) cases, and a small percentage who will be illegal in all cases.
When asked specifically about a law that would ban nearly all abortions in Texas once Roe v. Wade was overturned, most said they opposed such a law, saying so at essentially the same rate as the percentage of people who generally want abortion to be legal. or most cases.
Only a few Texans have heard “a lot” specifically about the so-called “trigger law” that would make most abortions illegal. More than four in 10 have heard little or nothing about it. Those who want to have an abortion legally in Texas have a higher level of knowledge about the “arousal law” than those who believe that abortion should mostly be illegal.
How do different groups in Texas feel about abortion?
A majority of women and men alike Abortion will be legal mostly in Texas, especially women.
Within gender, partisanship is important. The majority of Republican men and women abortion will be mostly illegal in Texas, while most Democratic men and women abortion may be mostly legal.
Most Republicans and conservatives say that abortion should be mostly illegal in Texas, but Texas Republicans are not entirely united on this. While the party’s elected officials have pushed for the enactment of strict restrictions and bans, nearly a third of average Republicans will have abortion legal in all or most cases. And among Republicans who say it should be illegal, many say it should be illegal in most cases (52%) rather than saying it should be illegal in all (17%).
In addition to an individual’s political ideology, religion is also important. Those who describe themselves as evangelical and who frequently attend religious services especially like to say that abortion should be illegal.
The factors we see regarding abortion views in Texas — gender, age, political party, and religion — are similar to those we see nationally. In general, the percentage of legal abortion support is somewhat lower in Texas, compared to the country. This is partly due to the state’s political makeup, which is more inclined towards Republicans than state.
Some of the groups in which abortion may be legal predominantly in Texas include women, younger Texans, Democrats, liberals, and moderates.
Also, 62% of Texans and three-quarters of black Texans support that abortion is mostly legal in Texas. White people are more divided, with leading views of political parties: Most white Democrats want abortion in Texas mostly legal, while most white Republicans do not.
This CBS News/YouGov poll was conducted using a statewide representative sample of 1,075 US adult residents in Texas interviewed from June 22 to 27, 2022. The sample is weighted to represent adults statewide according to gender, age, ethnicity, education, and geography. District based on the current US Census survey, as well as the 2020 presidential vote. Margin of error is ±4.7 points for the total sample.
Anthony Salvanto
