Abortion has become the top issue motivating Americans to protest in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, a new Gallup poll reported Wednesday.
Gallup found that 39% of Americans “have felt the urge to organize or join a public demonstration,” statistically unchanged from 36% when the company last asked the question in 2018.
In 1965, when the company started polling the issue during the Vietnam War and civil rights movement, 10% of Americans expressed a desire to protest.
This year’s poll found Democrats, liberals, women and upper-income college graduates are “most likely to protest.”
Among Americans who showed interest in demonstrating, 31% named abortion as their top motivation. Another 22% named law enforcement or Black Lives Matter, 19% named women’s rights, 11% listed civil or equal rights, 10% cited government or political issues and 8% mentioned gun control.
“Whether Democrats’ intensity about the abortion issue eclipses the significant political challenges Democrats face this November remains to be seen,” Gallup reported.
Four years ago, 17% of Americans interested in protesting cited the #MeToo movement, making it the top issue that year. In the 2018 poll, only 6% cited abortion and 13% cited immigration, an issue that just 1% of respondents mentioned this year.
Gallup conducted the randomized national telephone survey of 1,013 adults from July 5-26, reporting a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
Among the 397 respondents who expressed an urge to protest, the margin of error was plus or minus 6 percentage points.
• Sean Salai can be reached at ssalai@washingtontimes.com.
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