The number of Democrats who say they’re pro-life rose 14 percent between January and February, according to a Marist Poll released Sunday night.
Thirty-four percent of Democrats surveyed identify as pro-life, up from 20 percent of Democrats in January, according to the poll, reflecting a major shift in views. Young people are responsible for much of the shift; 28 percent of respondents younger than 45 who took the survey identified as pro-life in January and that number rose to 47 percent in February, the poll shows.
American respondents are split down the middle on abortion, with 47 percent of Americans surveyed identifying as pro-life and 47 percent identifying as pro-choice, the poll reveals.
Those percentages mark a departure from January’s nationwide views on abortion, where 55 percent of respondents considered themselves pro-choice while 38 percent said they were pro-life, according to the poll.
Only 25 percent of respondents said abortion should “generally be legal” during the last three months of pregnancy. Eighteen percent said abortion should be allowed at any time up until birth.
“Current proposals that promote late-term abortion have reset the landscape and language on abortion in a pronounced – and very measurable — way,” Marist Poll Director Barbara Carvalho said, according to a Monday press release.
The Knights of Columbus partnered with the Marist Poll to conduct the survey. They conducted their survey by interviewing 1,008 U.S. adults 18 years and older between Feb. 12 and 17. The interviews were conducted via telephone in English or Spanish. The margin of error is 3.5 percent.
The Knights of Columbus is a Catholic volunteer organization that does charity work in America, Europe and Asia.
“The recent legal changes to late-term abortion and the debate which followed have not gone unnoticed by the general public … there has been a significant increase in the proportion of Americans who see themselves as pro-life and an equally notable decline in those who describe themselves as pro-choice,” Carvalho said.
The poll follows New York’s passage of the Reproductive Health Act in January, codifying a woman’s ability to abort under state law and allowing women to have abortions later in pregnancies in certain cases.
Rhode Island, Maine, New Mexico and Maryland are also considering proposals to expand abortion access.
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