Support for abortion rights has grown in spite of bans and restrictions

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Support for abortion rights overall has increased as state legislatures and courtrooms have instituted a growing number of restrictions and bans, according to the latest PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll. Sixty-one percent of U.S. adults say they support abortion rights, marking a 6-percentage point increase since last June.

Nearly a year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, U.S. opinions about that consequential decision remain largely unchanged in this latest poll. A majority of U.S. adults – 59 percent – still say they oppose the justices’ decision, which removed federal protections for many reproductive health care services, while another 40 percent of Americans agree with the nation’s highest court. CONTINUED

Laura Santhanam, PBS NewsHour

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DeSantis trails far behind Trump in Republican support for the 2024 presidential nomination

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The latest Reuters/Ipsos survey shows that Donald Trump continues to lead in support for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, followed far behind by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. In hypothetical matchups versus President Joe Biden, the margin between Trump and Biden is slimmer than that for Biden and DeSantis. While the majority of registered voters agree that neither Biden nor Trump should run again in 2024, party-line divisions exist as most Democrats say Biden should run again and most Republicans say Trump should run again. CONTINUED

Chris Jackson, Annaleise Azevedo Lohr & Charlie Rollason, Ipsos

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Biden’s fate lies with Republicans more than Democrats

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… An NBC News poll out just days before his announcement shows that 51 percent of Democrats said they’d prefer Biden not run. A lot of that reflects his age, but his age was a concern in 2020, too.

There is almost zero doubt that Biden will be the 2024 Democratic nominee, barring some type of disaster, so for the sake of primaries, these numbers showing that Democrats would rather have someone else are moot.

Still, the numbers show that Democrats are not overwhelmingly excited about Biden, which could be read in two different ways for the general election. One read is that Biden wasn’t all that popular in 2020, either, but it still worked out—Democrats got behind Biden in the general—so it should work in 2024. The other read is that it shows Biden is a weak incumbent and might not have the electoral advantage that we would expect a sitting president to command. …

The advantage to Biden in both cases is that if Trump is the Republican nominee, he brings a whole host of weaknesses and problems, even more than he did in 2020. CONTINUED

Natalie Jackson, National Journal

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Joe Biden Isn’t Popular. That Might Not Matter in 2024.

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By almost any historic yardstick, President Joe Biden is beginning the reelection campaign he formally announced today in a vulnerable position.

His job-approval rating has consistently come in at 45 percent or less; in several recent high-quality national polls, it has dipped closer to 40 percent. In surveys, three-fourths or more of Americans routinely express dissatisfaction with the economy. And a majority of adults have repeatedly said that they do not want him to seek a second term; that figure rose to 70 percent (including just more than half of Democrats) in a national NBC poll released last weekend. …

And yet despite Biden’s persistently subpar public reviews, there’s no sense of panic in the Democratic Party about his prospects. …

There are many reasons for this gap between the dominant views about Biden’s immediate position and his eventual prospects in the 2024 race. But the most important reason is encapsulated in the saying from Biden’s father that he often quotes in speeches: “Don’t compare me to the Almighty; compare me to the alternative.” CONTINUED

Ronald Brownstein, The Atlantic

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Is Israel a democracy? Here’s what Americans think

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The unprecedented and sustained Israeli protests against the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposed judicial overhaul that threatened to substantially weaken the judiciary have captured news headlines worldwide. …

While these protests may have drawn attention to the right-wing government’s autocratic ambitions, they may have also highlighted the existence of a free environment, at least for hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens, to protest freely and reject the government’s plans. Do Americans see Israel as a vibrant democracy or as something far less?

To find out, we fielded a few questions in our University of Maryland Critical Issues Poll with Ipsos, which I direct with my colleague Stella Rouse. CONTINUED

Shibley Telhami, Brookings Institution

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CBS News poll: As Biden announces campaign, do Americans feel things at home are under control?

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For years now, Americans have said things in the country aren’t going well. And there’s still a large majority describing things in the country as “out of control” — that hasn’t abated in recent months. It’s not an easy environment for any president launching a reelection bid. So, we asked people why they felt that way — and whether it’s directly connected to President Joe Biden or not.

They said there are bigger factors: like the economy (financial insecurity can certainly make people feel less in control) and the general state of U.S. politics, and even U.S. culture and values. Those views cut across party lines. CONTINUED

CBS News

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