Do swing voters blame Biden or Trump for Roe v. Wade reversal? What new poll found
Who is to blame for Roe v. Wade being overturned? Nearly 1 in 5 swing state voters say President Joe Biden, according to new polling.
In a series of New York Times/Philadelphia Inquirer/Siena College polls released May 13, voters in six battleground states were asked, “Who do you think is most responsible for the Supreme Court ending the constitutional right to an abortion: Joe Biden or Donald Trump?”
Eighteen percent of respondents said Biden bore some or a lot of responsibility, while 56% said Trump held some or a lot of responsibility.
The polls, conducted between April 28 and May 9, sampled 4,097 registered voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. They have a combined margin of error of plus or minus 1.8 percentage points.
In Nevada and Michigan, 20% and 19% of respondents respectively laid blame at the president’s feet, while 51% and 52% blamed Trump.
Respondents in Wisconsin were least likely to blame Biden, with 14% holding him responsible and 60% holding Trump responsible.
The sizable amount of blame being put on Biden comes despite the fact that he is a supporter of abortion rights and that Trump, his predecessor, appointed three conservative justices who facilitated the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Some respondents told The New York Times that Biden should have done more to protect abortion rights. Others, including those who don’t pay close attention to politics, blamed him for the reversal of Roe v. Wade because he was president when it happened.
About 1 in 10 respondents, 11%, said abortion is the most important issue that will influence their vote in November.
Additionally, a plurality of respondents, 49%, said they trust Biden more on the issue of abortion, while 38% said they trust Trump.
Biden has made abortion rights a key issue for his reelection campaign and has said that, if he wins, he will seek to restore the constitutional right to an abortion.
“It was Donald Trump and his Supreme Court who ripped away the rights and freedoms of women in America,” Biden said during a campaign event in January, according to previous reporting from McClatchy News. “And it will be Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and all of you who are going to restore those rights for the women of America.”
Trump, on the other hand, has indicated he would support a nationwide ban on abortions at about 15 weeks of pregnancy, according to The Associated Press.
“We’re going to come up with a time — and maybe we could bring the country together on that issue,” he said during a radio interview in March, per the outlet.
The vast majority of Americans believe abortion should be legal in some or all circumstances, according to a July poll from Gallup. About half of respondents, 51%, said it should be legal in certain scenarios, while 34% said it should be legal in all circumstances, and 13% said it should always be illegal.
This story was originally published May 16, 2024 at 12:03 PM with the headline "Do swing voters blame Biden or Trump for Roe v. Wade reversal? What new poll found."