Women and men diverge more than ever on support for abortion rights, poll shows
Three years after the fall of Roe v Wade and months after an election that heavily focused on the fight over abortion rights, men and women have never diverged more on their support for access to the procedure, according to new polling from Gallup released Monday.
Sixty-one percent of women now identify as 'pro-choice', but only 41% of men say the same, Gallup found. The same percentage of women identified as 'pro-choice' in 2022, just after the decision to overturn Roe was leaked, but at the time, 48% of men also did so. Prior to Roe's collapse, men and women were never more than 10 points apart from one another on the issue, according to decades of Gallup polling.
Men and women are also in record disagreement over whether abortion is moral, as 57% of women and 40% men say that it is. Just 41% of men say that abortion should be legal in all or more circumstances, while 56% of women say the same.
These gender gaps are likely less due to post-Roe changes in men's attitudes towards abortion than in changes in women's attitudes, said Lydia Saad, Gallup's director of US social research. Specifically: women have become a lot more supportive of abortion since Roe fell. In 2021, 52% of women and 45% of men identified as 'pro-choice'.
'In general, we see that with abortion, that the party that wants to change the status quo is the one that has more energy on the issue,' Saad said. 'For years, it was more the pro-life respondents who said that they will only support a candidate who shares their views on that issue. Whereas, since 2022, we've seen it flip.'
Sudden political upsets do have the power to dramatically change people's beliefs, Saad said. Typically, however, those changes don't last and people revert to their norm views within a few years. Men's declining support for abortion may thus be a sign that they are reverting to their norm – but Saad was surprised women are still so energized by the issue.
'A line had been crossed for women,' Saad said. 'If you were generally supportive of abortion rights before, you became much more so.'
Similarly, men who identify as Democrats have, like women, become much more likely to back abortion rights. Between 2020 and 2021, 63% of Democratic men said that they believed abortion should be legal in most circumstances; as of 2025, 78% of Democratic men say the same.
Saad is not exactly sure why support for abortion rights is dwindling among men. Although this is the lowest level of support among men for the 'pro-choice' label in a decade, she is not convinced that this decline will continue.
'It's more just a out of sight, out of mind issue for men,' Saad said of abortion's legality. 'Whereas for women – it's just been more salient.'
At this point, it's difficult to tell whether men are becoming more actively opposed to abortion or whether they are simply becoming more conservative overall, Saad said. Men are already more likely to be Republicans, and Republicans typically oppose abortion rights. A mere 19% of Republican men think abortion should be legal in most circumstances.
Saad suspects Gallup's findings may be tied to shifts in the political views of young men, who proved to be surprisingly conservative in the 2024 election. Fifty-six percent of men between the ages of 18 and 29 voted for Donald Trump.
'We have to see where this goes,' Saad cautioned. 'If it's sustained, then we would really have to take a close look at why.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
24 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Trump launches intriguing new call to arms video to pass massive tax cuts in his 'big beautiful bill'
The White House drafted several members of Congress to help sell the president's 'Big Beautiful Bill' in a new video, as the deadline to pass it grows closer. The video, provided exclusively to the Daily Mail offers a window into the White House effort to move the bill through Congress by July 4th for the president to sign. Members of Congress were drafted by the president's team at the White House Congressional picnic to speak in support of the bill, highlighting why they were supporting the president's efforts. Sens. Roger Marshall of Kansas, Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania were featured in the video, as well as Reps. Chuck Fleischmann, Diana Harshbarger, Erin Houchin, and Anna Paulina Luna. The Republicans touted the bill's efforts to prevent the 'largest tax increase in history,' by extending expiring rate hikes, securing funding for border security, energy development, and tax relief, 'This is a bill for working families, working Americans,' Houchin said. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, touted the expansion of the child tax credit and savings accounts for every new child in the United States and ending tax on tips. 'This is a net positive for America,' she said. President Trump urged the Senate to keep working on the bill during his speech at the picnic. 'We're shooting for the 4th of July,' he told members of Congress. 'I think it's going to be the most important piece of legislation that our country has passed in many, many years.' The bill passed the House with a slim Republican majority vote of 215-214 and now is working its way through the Senate. Despite pressure from the president, some Republican senators are opposed to the measure, warning that it spends too much money and adds to the deficit. Sen. Rand Paul signaled his opposition to the bill telling Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo in a recent he would need more negotiations before he was willing to vote for it. 'Right now they are not negotiating with me, because they don't think they need me, so I will not be the deciding vote. The bill will not fail because of me,' he said. Senate Majority Leader John Thune can lose four Republican votes to pass the bill, provided that Vice President JD Vance can help it pass by breaking a tie. After Paul vocally criticized the bill he said he was 'uninvited' from the White House picnic, telling reporters he felt the move was 'incredibly petty.' Trump re-extended the invitation to the Senator and his family on social media. 'Of course Senator Rand Paul and his beautiful wife and family are invited to the BIG White House Party tonight,' Trump wrote, describing Paul as 'the toughest vote in the history of the U.S. Senate.' The president's signature bill struggled out of the gate to win support, especially after billionaire Elon Musk criticized the bill as a 'massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill' that was 'a disgusting abomination.' Republicans defended the measure, arguing that the tax cuts in the bill would help boost revenues for the treasury through economic growth. Congressional Democrats remain universally opposed to the legislation.
Reuters
26 minutes ago
- Reuters
FCC orders review of 'Cyber Trust Mark' program over China ties
June 20 (Reuters) - Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr said on Friday he had ordered a review of the U.S. Cyber Trust Mark program over "potentially concerning ties to the government of China." Carr said the review was being carried out by the FCC's Council on National Security. He did not provide details. The review was earlier reported by Fox News, opens new tab.
Daily Mail
30 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Florida lawmaker makes xenophobic comment to Muslim mayoral candidate
A Florida congressman gave a xenophobic analysis of the New York City mayor's race. Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) came out on Friday guns-blazing against Democratic New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani. The lawmaker used the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict to compare Mamdani's potential future leadership style to that of Iran 's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his predecessor. Mamdani, a rising star in New York City politics, is Muslim and a pro-Palestinian progressive. The Queens politician is running to be the next NYC mayor against incumbent Democratic Mayor Eric Adams, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo as well as other lesser known candidates like the city's Comptroller Brad Lander and New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams. Fine faced backlash on X from those claiming his comments were anti-Muslim. 'You're right, everyone needs to submit to Christianity and accept Jesus Christ as their lord and savior,' one social media user sarcastically quipped. Another sarcastic commenter wrote: 'Agreed. We won't allow any Muslim run any office.' One said that Mamdani is such a flawless candidate that his critics are resorting to 'Islamaphobic retardness.' 'This is bigoted and wholly detached from reality,' wrote an X account on a more serious note. Another user suggested that Fine was in the pocket of the pro-Israel lobby and asked X's Artificial Intelligence Grok to detail contributions made to the Florida lawmaker's campaign from such groups. It revealed that Fine received a combined more than $400,000 from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) and NORPAC. The comments from Fine come amid a rise in anti-Semitic sentiment in the U.S. with the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas terrorists operating as the de facto government in the Palestinian stronghold of Gaza. And now, Israel is also embroiled in exchanging missile attacks with Iran. On June 12, Israel launched its first barrage against Iran targeting nuclear facilities and military infrastructure and leaders to prevent Tehran from gaining nuclear weapon capabilities. President Donald Trump on Thursday gave himself two weeks to decide whether the U.S. would back Israel and also strike against Iran. Republican lawmakers are split over whether the U.S. should back its ally or stay out of the conflict – with some warning of mutually assured nuclear annihilation.
