Analysis and Opinion on Recent Gallup Poll on Abortion

Los Angeles Times: Analysis: Are the new Gallup numbers on abortion meaningful?, by David Lauter:

Gallup received considerable attention Wednesday for new poll numbers showing that the share of Americans who call themselves “pro-choice” on the abortion issue has hit a record low of 41% while 50% now call themselves “pro-life.”
 
Attention-getting for sure, but what, if anything, does it mean? . . .

Slate Magazine: The Problem With Polling About Moral Beliefs, by Amanda Marcotte:

Another year, another Gallup poll on abortion for anti-choicers to misleadingly represent in a bid to deceive the country into believing they're winning in the court of public opinion. Of course, Gallup shares the blame for this travesty, since it publishes its polling results with a lead about the poll that asks if people identify as pro-choice or pro-life. Inevitably, "pro-life" polls well, much better than it would if it were more accurately phrased as "anti-choice" or "anti-abortion," because it's a fuzzy-wuzzy term that deliberately distracts from the legal and sexual freedom issues at the heart of the abortion debate. This year, the poll found that 50 percent of Americans relate to the empty term "pro-life," and only 41 percent to the term "pro-choice.". . .

The Washington Post (op-ed contributor): Why Americans are becoming more pro-life, by Ashley McGuire:

For decades, abortion was thought of as an issue that riled up religious zealots in the Bible Belt. “Enlightened” Americans, however, saw abortion as the key to women’s liberation and a more egalitarian society.

Their notions about history and progress assured them that abortion was an essential part of the path forward, for women and for society more broadly.

Wednesday’s news that Gallup is now recording the lowest level of self-described pro-choicers in its history of tracking the abortion issue is no doubt an unwelcome hiccup in their vision for America. . . .