UNF national poll shows abortion listed as third most important issue for voters in November

A new national survey from the University of North Florida’s Public Opinion Research Lab of 745 likely voters released on Thursday finds that abortion/women’s rights ranks as the third most significant issue for voters when it comes to deciding who to vote for president this November.

Economy/jobs are listed as by far the most important issue for voters, getting 27% support. Immigration/border control is second at 11%, and abortion/women’s rights are third at 10%.

“With the repeal of Roe and the passage of restrictive abortion laws in multiple states, it has been a top issue across the country,” says Michael Binder, the Public Opinion Research Lab Director. “Whether or not that issue alone is enough to propel Biden to victory in November is another story.”

The survey question on issues states: When it comes to the Presidential election in November, what issue is most important in deciding who to vote for? There are 15 categories in those rankings.

Following the top three issues, here are the others: Inflation/cost of living (8%); Foreign policy/national security, 7%; Personal character/integrity/best for country, 6%; The state of democracy/election integrity/corruption, 5%; Health care, 3%; Pro-Biden/the Democrats/anti-Trump, 3%; Education, 2%; Environmental/climate change, 2%; Poor leadership/government, 2%; Pro-Trump/the Republicans/anti-Biden, 2%; Other, 6%, and DK (don’t know)/Ref, 6%.

Also, there are stark divisions between the political parties and gender over issues of abortion rights.

Among Democrats, abortion rights are the most important issue with 17%, followed closely by the economy at 16%.

Among Republicans, abortion rights is only tied for 5th place at 6 percent. GOP voters in the survey say 39% is the most important issue: economy/jobs, followed by immigration/border control (16%).

Among women voters overall, abortion is considered the second most important issue at 17%, trailing only the economy at 22%.

For male voters, abortion rights are tied for 6^th place in listing their top issues with 5%, excluding the “other” category. The economy leads their top issues at 31%, followed by immigration at 10%.

The survey also asks voters if they would support a national ban on abortion after 15 weeks, with exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. Half of all voters – 50% – said that they strongly or somewhat support that proposal. A total of 40% somewhat oppose or strongly oppose that idea.

Presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump recently announced that he wants the states to decide the issue of abortion rights, but a majority in the poll (48%) say that policies regarding abortion access should be decided at the federal level, while 38% oppose.

President Joe Biden has said for the past two years that he wants to codify abortion rights into law, which he repeated in Tampa this week. To do that, however, he would need 60 votes in the U.S. Senate to overcome a filibuster, which would include Republicans.

Or, all 50 Democratic votes would have to overcome the filibuster rules. In that case, Vice President Kamala Harris would be the deciding vote.

The survey of 745 likely voters was conducted from April 8-20, and has a margin of error is +/- 4.2 percentage points.