The recent leak of a draft opinion from the Supreme Court that could scrap abortion rights has done little to influence voters’ choice of which party they want running Congress next year, according to a new NBC poll.
The opinion from Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, leaked earlier this month, indicates Roe v. Wade could be overturned, dramatically changing abortion rights in the country.
However, the news had little effect on which party could be in control following this November’s midterms, the NBC poll finds.
The poll, conducted days after the leaked draft was published in Politico, shows 46% of voters want a GOP-controlled Congress while 46% want Democrats in charge.
With speculation buzzing over whether the potential doom of Roe v. Wade will have a political impact, the needle didn’t move much for either party.
Dating back to March, 46% of voters still picked the GOP and that percentage was the same dating back to August 2021. Democrats only saw a 2% uptick from March polling; in August polling, 47% of voters preferred Democrats.
The poll’s margin for error was 3.10%.
But enthusiasm from Democratic voters has shot up, with 61% expressing a high level of interest ahead of this year’s midterms, an eleven-point jump from March, according to NBC. But 69% of Republicans expressed high interest in the midterms, NBC reported, a notable advantage over Democrats.
“It is true that Democratic interest is up, but we can’t lose sight that Republicans still enjoy an advantage that augurs well for election success,” Republican pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies, who conducted the survey with, told NBC.
McInturff conducted the survey with Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research Associates, according to NBC.
Sixty-three percent of Americans support keeping Roe v. Wade in place while 30% want to see it overturned, according to the NBC poll.
The poll found that 37% believe abortion should always be legal and 23% believe it should be legal most of the time. Thirty-two percent of Americans want abortion illegal with exceptions and 5% think it should be illegal without any exceptions.
Fifty-two percent of Americans would be less likely to support a candidate who wants to see Roe v. Wade overturned while 26% are more likely to vote for that candidate.
Only 39% of Americans approve of the overall job President Joe Biden is doing, a new low though it is about on par with how voters felt in March when 40% approved. Meanwhile, 56% disapprove of the president’s performance, a slight bump from March when 55% disapproved.
Back in April 2021, 53% approved of Biden.
About three-quarters of Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, the poll indicates.
Among GOP primary voters, 55% believe former President Trump should continue to lead the GOP. But 33% think while Trump was a good president, it’s time for the party to find new leaders, according to the poll.
