Abortion has overtaken inflation to become the top presidential election issue for women under 30 since Vice President Kamala Harris replaced President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee. This emerges from the results of a survey of female voters published by KFF on Friday.
About two in five among adolescent voters said abortion was their top concern in the most recent poll, compared with one in five who rated it as their top concern in the same poll in the spring.
In the previous edition, inflation was the biggest concern for younger voters, as well as voters of all ages. Inflation remained the top concern for women in every age group over 30 and for women overall. Overall, women ranked abortion as their top concern, after inflation and threats to democracy, but ahead of immigration.
KFF, a health policy research, polling and news organization, surveyed 678 female voters from September 12 to October 1. Most of them were participants in an earlier wave of the same survey, conducted in May and June. The follow-up survey group was supplemented with 29 Black women to ensure an adequate sample size of this group. The sampling error was plus or minus 5 points, with larger ranges for subgroups of voters.
Abortion has long been a large issue, but things changed in 2022 when the U.S. Supreme Court, which consisted of three justices nominated by Harris’ current opponent, former President Donald Trump, ruled on Roe vs. Wade repealed and opened the door for states to enforce abortion bans.
Most Republican-controlled states now enforce such bans, including 13 that ban abortion at all stages of pregnancy with some exceptions, and four with bans that go into effect after about the first six weeks of pregnancy — before women often realize they are pregnant.
Harris has made abortion access a centerpiece of her campaign.
In addition to the presidential race, a number of other elections could impact the abortion landscape this year, including in nine states that have ballot measures that would protect the right to abortion in the state constitution.
Races for Congress — as well as for state offices such as governor, state legislature, state Supreme Court justices and attorneys general — could also facilitate shape future abortion policy.
Overall, about two-thirds of women said the election will have a major impact on access to abortion, while in the first poll just over half of women said it will have a major impact.
Most women said it was likely that Trump would sign a federal law banning abortions after the first 15 weeks of pregnancy if Congress passed such a measure. (*30*) as the poll period ended, Trump said he would veto an abortion ban if one reached his desk.
The majority said they believed Harris would sign legislation protecting access to abortion nationwide if Congress passed it.
There is a deep partisan divide over which candidate would be better on abortion access. Most women said they preferred Harris, including 90% of Democrats and less than a fifth of Republicans. The survey found similar dividing lines where the candidate would be more suitable for access to contraception and in vitro fertilization.
The survey found that Republican women are slightly less hopeful and enthusiastic and more anxious and frustrated about the presidential election than they were earlier this year. In contrast, Democratic women are far more hopeful and enthusiastic, although their fears have also increased.
As in the spring, just over half of Republican women are satisfied with their presidential election. But Democratic women’s satisfaction rose from just over a third to three-quarters.
