CBS Poll: 55% of Americans Support Restrictions or Ban on Abortion

A new CBS poll released Monday found 55 percent of Americans support either restrictions on abortion or a ban on the procedure entirely.

The telephone poll surveyed the views of 1,309 Americans, including 454 Democrats, 331 Republicans, and 524 independents.

The results indicated that, while 43 percent of participants said abortion should be “generally available,” 55 percent said the procedure should be restricted or completely banned, including 31 percent who said it should be “available but under limits,” and 24 percent who said it “should not be permitted” at all.

With political party as a factor, only 20 percent of Republicans said abortion should be “generally available,” while 66 percent of Democrats and 39 percent of independents said the same.

On the issue of abortion restrictions, 44 percent of Republicans, 21 percent of Democrats, and 31 percent of independents agreed with limits on the procedure.

A ban on abortion was seen favorably by 35 percent of Republicans, 12 percent of Democrats, and 27 percent of independents.

Thus, 79 percent of Republicans, 33 percent of Democrats, and 58 percent of independents said abortion should be restricted or banned.

According to CBS, interviews for the poll were “conducted in English and Spanish” and the data “have been weighted to reflect U.S. Census figures on demographic variables.”

The margin of error for the entire sample is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, but CBS said that figure could be higher for subgroups.

Polling in recent years has shown Americans do not support unrestricted abortion, and that the label “pro-choice” does not automatically mean a person supports unlimited abortion.

A Marist poll released in January found most Americans reject the 1973 ruling that created a right to abortion.

According to the poll, which was sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, 62 percent of Americans say that if the Supreme Court revisits Roe v. Wade, it should rule to allow states to determine abortion restrictions (46%) or make abortion illegal (16%). This outcome included 39 percent of those who identify as Democrat and 40 percent of those who consider themselves “pro-choice.”

Only 33 percent of Americans said abortion should be legal at any time without restriction.

The poll found 41 percent of those who identify as pro-choice are more likely to vote for candidates who support abortion restrictions, as are more than nine in ten, or 96 percent, of those who identify as pro-life.

Additionally, 65 percent of Americans, and the same percentage of registered voters, said they “are more likely to vote for” candidates who would limit abortion to at most the first three months of pregnancy. This outcome included 88 percent  of Republicans, 62 percent of independents, and 44 percent of Democrats.

“What our polling makes clear is that millions of Americans describe themselves as ‘pro-choice’ because they believe in some choice, which would include life of the mother, rape, and incest as examples, but very few agree with abortion throughout pregnancy,” said Knights of Columbus CEO Carl Anderson in an interview with Breitbart News at the March for Life in Washington, DC.

“Many of the people who describe themselves as pro-choice are actually in agreement on policy with pro-lifers,” he continued, noting a pattern in the annual poll. “The trend is steady: seven out of ten Americans for a decade want significant restrictions; four out of ten Democrats want significant restrictions.”

Similarly, a YouGov survey, published in February 2019, found most Americans who identify as “pro-choice” oppose late-term abortions.

The Associated Press reported at the same time as well that 66 percent of adults who identify as pro-choice opposed third-trimester abortions, while 68 percent opposed abortions the day before a baby is born.

Among all adults surveyed, 79 percent rejected late-term abortion, and 80 percent opposed day-before-birth abortion.

Furthermore, 82 percent of all those surveyed disagreed with withholding medical care for a viable newborn, including 77 percent of pro-choice adults.

In June 2019, Gallup reported 60 percent of Americans said abortion should either not be legal at all (21%) or only legal in a few circumstances (39%).

A bombshell study released in July 2019 also found that 96 percent of 5,500 biologists who were asked when life begins affirmed that life begins at the time of fertilization.

In his doctoral research at the University of Chicago, Steven Jacobs, Ph.D. asked the biologists, who hailed from over a thousand academic institutions in 86 countries, when life begins.

Overall, the study found 96 percent of biologists affirmed the view that a human’s life begins at fertilization (95% confidence interval [95-97%]).