Americans have been divided on the issue of abortion for decades, but are opinions split within the political parties as well? That was the conclusion of a Pew Research Center study, which showed that Democrats are more united than Republicans when it comes to abortion.

According to the survey, which was originally completed in 2019, only 64% of Republicans agree with their party when it comes to abortion, 12% agree with Democrats, and 23% don’t agree with either party. On the Democrat side, 70% agree with the party, 7% agree with Republicans, and 22% don’t agree with either party.

When broken down by education and age group, it reveals some interesting results. When it comes to those with a high school education or less, there isn’t much difference on the Republican side, but 33% on the Democrat side don’t agree with either party. It’s unclear if those individuals support a more pro-life policy or just don’t have a strong opinion either way.

College graduates are also an interesting comparison. For Republicans, 64% of college graduates agree with the party’s position, 17% don’t agree with either, and a staggering 19% agree with the Democrats. On the opposite side of the aisle, 84% of college graduates agree with the party’s position, 10% don’t agree with either side, and only 5% agree with Republicans.

The survey goes on to highlight that about 62% of Republicans believe that abortion should be illegal in all or most cases, with 45% believing in most cases. When it comes to Democrats, about 82% believe that abortion should be legal in all or most cases, but only 40% believe in all cases, while 42% believe in most cases.

Surprisingly, the Republican party is more united when it comes to issues like health care, illegal immigration, and economic policies than abortion. By comparison, the Democrats are more united on healthcare and abortion and less united on illegal immigration and economic policy.

For Republicans, this result could signify, to a certain extent, that the GOP welcomes diverse opinions when it comes to abortion, but why is that the case? Shouldn’t abortion, a cultural issue dealing with life and death, have more unity within the party than economic policy? Aren’t the lives of our children worthy of protection?

Surveys are helpful tools to help gauge the public’s current interest or support for a particular topic or subject, but it’s disappointing to see such a lack of unity surrounding the issue of the sanctity of life in our political landscape.

This Pew study highlights that abortion remains an important political issue for many Americans, but unfortunately, there are still far too many people who support pro-abortion measures. Hopefully, as pro-life sentiment in the country continues to grow, commonsense restrictions on abortion access can be enacted to protect both women and their babies.

 

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