Most Americans No Longer Think the Abortion Debate is All That Important

 

 

 

 

Abortion rights protestors Annah Shapiro (R) and Kat Enyeart (L), two women from Portland, Oregon, kiss in front of street preacher Alan Hoyle (far right) on day two of the Democratic National Convention (DNC), in Charlotte, North Carolina on September 5, 2012

 

Here's the main takeaway from a new Pew study on abortion: Most Americans have more important things to care about than the abortion debate. That being said, a majority are against overturning Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court's landmark decision that turns 40 this month.

The survey, out yesterday, marked a decline in the issue's relative importance in the eyes of most Americans. More than half (53 percent) said that the issue "is not that important compared to other issues." That's up from 32 percent who said the same in 2006, and 48 percent in 2009. Just 18 percent of Americans currently consider the abortion debate to be a "critical" issue. Most of those in the latter category are against legal abortions, Pew notes, which isn't that surprising.

But some attitudes haven't changed, according to the survey. Americans are still divided on the morality of abortions — 47 percent say it's morally wrong to have an abortion, 13 percent say it's acceptable, 27 percent don't consider it to be a moral issue, and 9 percent believe it depends on circumstances. Despite the country's split on that topic, however, Americans overwhelmingly do not want to see Roe v. Wade overturned, 63 percent to 29.

Pew broke down stances on Roe v. Wade by demographic, and there's only one group that has a majority in favor of overturning the Supreme Court decision: White, Evangelical Protestants. Even Catholics, of whom 58 percent say abortion is always morally wrong, lean towards keeping the decision in place.

The issue's diminished importance for Americans could partially explain another statistic headlining write-ups of the study: Only 44 percent of Americans under the age of 30 (i.e., the ever popular "milennials" category) know that Roe v. Wade has to do with abortion. By comparison, 62 percent of all Americans knew what the landmark case was about. There's also an education gap. Ninety-one percent of Americans with post-graduate education could correctly identify the SCOTUS case's topic, while only 47 percent of those with just a high school education could do the same.

 



 



By Abby Ohlheiser



Americans Say Washington Politics Is Harming the Country, but Think Things Will Get Better

Dirty Harry
 

 Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid rubs his eyes

It's not surprising that the latest Gallup poll shows the American public has an overwhelmingly negative attitude toward the federal government, particularly Congress. What is surprising though, is how optimistic Americans are on the future of Washington politics.

We know that Congress' approval rating has been stuck in a historically low rut for a while now, and Monday's Gallup poll provides a complimentary statistic: 77 percent of Americans agree that "the way politics works in Washington these days is causing serious harm to the United States." 19 percent disagreed. Current job approval rating for Congress? 18 percent. Republicans were more negative, but a clear majority of all party designations did not have a positive opinion about Washington politics.

Here's where it gets interesting. While agreeing that "politics," apparently Congress in particular, based on Gallup's analysis, are causing "serious harm" to the country, Americans generally remain optimistic about the political process. When asked whether they're "generally optimistic or pessimistic that the way politics work in Washington will improve in the next ten years," 52 percent pegged themselves as optimistic while 45 percent were pessimistic. Democrats were more positive than Republicans or independents. The big question: Where is this optimism coming from?

Some might chalk up this optimism as a symptom (or cause) of notions of American exceptionalism, a waning belief according to this 2011 Pew poll, which found that just about half of Americans believe their culture is superior to other nations. But, despite the similar shares of the American public, the optimists and exceptionalists don't quite line up. Exceptionalists trend older, while the Gallup poll found optimism levels slightly higher among younger Americans. There just doesn't seem to be a clear explanation to fully explain the gap between current low opinions and high hopes for the future. An optimist could argue that the positive outlook for a decade from now comes from an intent to do something to fix what Americans perceive to be wrong, but historically, Americans don't generally receive high grades in political participation.

By Abby Ohlheiser