Republicans, Abortion and Trump
A MULawPoll Nugget
Republican views of Abortion and of Donald Trump
Donald Trump’s appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court were instrumental in the overturning of Roe v. Wade. How do attitudes toward abortion relate to views of Trump among Republican voters?
MULawPoll Nuggets are brief reports of data collected by the Marquette Law School Poll national and Wisconsin surveys conducted since 2012. Methodological details are presented in the final section below.
Abortion opinion by party identification, 2022
Abortion opinion is measured by the question:
Do you think abortion should be legal in all cases, legal in most cases, illegal in most cases, or illegal in all cases?
Party identification is measured by the questions:
Generally speaking, do you usually think of yourself as a Republican, a Democrat, or an Independent?
and
(If “independent”) Do you think of yourself as closer to the Republican Party or to the Democratic Party?
In this analysis, “Republicans” are those who say “Republican” to the first question only. Independents who are closer to the Republican party are not included in the analysis of Republican opinion.
| Party ID | Legal in all cases | Legal in most cases | Illegal in most cases | Illegal in all cases |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | 10 | 26 | 50 | 13 |
| Lean Republican | 11 | 36 | 43 | 10 |
| Independent | 30 | 38 | 22 | 8 |
| Lean Democrat | 43 | 45 | 9 | 3 |
| Democrat | 48 | 41 | 8 | 3 |
Favorability to Trump by abortion opinion among Republicans, 2022
Favorability to Trump is measured by the question:
Donald Trump: Do you have a favorable or an unfavorable opinion of the following people or haven’t you heard enough yet to have an opinion?
| Party ID | Abortion opinion | Favorable opinion | Unfavorable opinion | Haven’t heard enough |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Legal in all cases | 62 | 32 | 5 |
| Republican | Legal in most cases | 68 | 31 | 1 |
| Republican | Illegal in most cases | 82 | 17 | 2 |
| Republican | Illegal in all cases | 92 | 8 | 1 |
Approval of the U.S. Supreme Court by abortion opinion among Republcians, 2022
Approval of the U.S. Supreme Court is measured by the question:
Overall, how much do you approve or disapprove of the way the US Supreme Court is handling its job?
| Party ID | Abortion opinion | Approve | Disapprove |
|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Legal in all cases | 41 | 59 |
| Republican | Legal in most cases | 51 | 49 |
| Republican | Illegal in most cases | 79 | 21 |
| Republican | Illegal in all cases | 81 | 18 |
Favorability to DeSantis by abortion opinion among Republicans, 2022
Favorability to DeSantis is measured by the question:
Ron DeSantis: Do you have a favorable or an unfavorable opinion of the following people or haven’t you heard enough yet to have an opinion?
| Party ID | Abortion opinion | Favorable opinion | Unfavorable opinion | Haven’t heard enough |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Legal in all cases | 34 | 25 | 41 |
| Republican | Legal in most cases | 49 | 15 | 36 |
| Republican | Illegal in most cases | 70 | 6 | 24 |
| Republican | Illegal in all cases | 66 | 7 | 27 |
About the Marquette Law School Poll
The Marquette Law School Supreme Court survey is a national survey of adults. The data reported here were collected in May, July, Sept. and Nov. 2022 among 4459 adults, including 1191 Republicans. These data were collected after the leak of the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade on May 2, 2022.
Across the four national samples 4459 adults nationwide were interviewd, with a margin of error of +/-1.9 percentage points. The Republican subsample of 1191 respondents has a margin of error of +/-3.5 percentage points.
Interviews were conducted using the SSRS Opinion Panel, a national probability sample with interviews conducted online. The detailed methodology statement, survey instrument, topline results, and crosstabs for each survey are available at https://law.marquette.edu/poll/category/results-and-data/