Half of Americans oppose the overthrow of Roe v. Wade: Poll

Half of American voters oppose overturning the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade – compared to 28% who believe it should be put down, according to a new poll released on Wednesday.

Politico’s poll, conducted after Judge Samuel Alito’s draft opinion overturning the abortion order was leaked, found that 50 percent disagreed with the decision, while 22 percent of voters were undecided or had no opinion.​

Among Democrats, 68% said Roe should stand against Wade, while 52% of Independents and 51% of Republicans agreed.​

In the 98-page Politico Majority Opinion, Alito wrote that Roe v. Wade was “enormously wrong from the start,” concluding that it should be struck down so states can make their own decisions about curtailing abortion rights.

Most Americans – 47% – believe abortion should be legal across the US, compared to 19% who believe state governments should be able to enact restrictions and 21% who say abortion should just be illegal .

But Americans seem to support restrictions on abortion rights — just 25% say it should be “legal in all cases,” 31% say it should be “legal in most cases,” and 24% believe it should should be “illegal in all cases”.

When asked after the publication of the draft decision whether they support the term limit for judges, 66% say they “strongly” or “somewhat” agree, while 21% say they “strongly” or “somewhat disagree”.

Most Americans also support increasing the number of judges on the Court from the current nine — 45% say they “strongly” or “somewhat” agree, compared with 36% who “strongly” or “somewhat” disagree.

Americans also overwhelmingly support judges being bound by a code of ethics. ​73% “strongly” or “rather” agree, 11% ​“strongly” or “rather” disagree.

The poll polled 1,955 registered voters and has a plus or minus 2 percentage point margin of error.