The average American doesn’t have a philosophically consistent opinion on abortion. But decades of polling indicate a clear picture of how the majority of the country feels.
Since Roe v. Wade was decided, roughly 20% of the nation has remained solidly pro-life under all circumstances. The hardline pro-choice coalition has oscillated ever so slightly, now composing nearly 30% of the population. Half of the country is caught in the middle, and polling indicates that their ethos on the matter lies somewhere between “safe, legal, and rare” and the acceptance of abortion as a necessary evil that ought to be avoided.
Despite the Democratic knives out for 2020 front-runner Joe Biden’s middling stance on the issue, most Americans are closer to the former vice president than to any of his rivals.
Responding to Biden’s return (an apparent flip-flop) to defending the Hyde Amendment — which bans the use of federal funding for abortions — Bernie’s shown he’s out for blood on the matter:
There is #NoMiddleGround on women’s rights. Abortion is a constitutional right. Under my Medicare for All plan, we will repeal the Hyde Amendment.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) June 5, 2019
Yes, 6 out of 10 Americans support legal abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy, but nearly the same amount support the Hyde Amendment. Contrary to the loudest voices in the primary and the media, even most Democrats do not view abortion as a positive good. Just 44% of Democrats oppose the Hyde Amendment, and fewer than 1 in 5 support legalizing third trimester abortion, which multiple presidential candidates have endorsed.
Biden seems to back the same hesitant tolerance for abortion as a last resort that half of the country holds. He’s repeatedly voted for the Hyde Amendment and for partial-birth abortion bans. He once voted for an amendment to allow states to overturn Roe v. Wade, although he reversed course later on. As it turns out, a lot of Americans are iffy on Roe as well. A new Harvard CAPS/Harris poll found that the majority of the country would want the Supreme Court to either modify Roe or overturn it entirely.
Biden’s position isn’t intellectually satisfying. Either a fetus is human, with the same rights as you and me, or it isn’t. But most Americans approach the abortion issue emotionally rather than logically. Biden’s defense of a teenage girl’s decision to terminate a six-week pregnancy is a lot less repugnant for most of the country, on a purely emotional level, than celebrities and presidential wannabees celebrating crushing fulling developed skulls of viable babies in the womb as a positive good and vindication of women’s liberation.
Biden may be blasted for inconsistency, and he’ll certainly come under fire from the far left, but he may be more in line with the average American on abortion than any other candidate in the race.
