By more than two-to-one, Americans say medication abortion should be legal in their state

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With the future of abortion pills in legal jeopardy, more Americans say medication abortion should be legal than illegal in their state, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. The survey – conducted in the days before the conflicting court rulings on medication abortion by federal judges in Texas and Washington state – also finds stark divides by age and partisanship in Americans’ views of the issue.

Overall, 53% of adults say medication abortion – that is, the use of a prescription pill or a series of pills to end a pregnancy – should be legal in their state, while fewer than half as many (22%) say it should be illegal. About a quarter (24%) say they aren’t sure. CONTINUED

Hannah Hartig, Pew Research Center

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One in Five Adults Say They’ve Had a Family Member Killed by a Gun

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Experiences with gun-related incidents are common across the country, with about one in five adults saying that they have personally been threatened with a gun (21%) or had a family member killed by a gun, including by suicide (19%), finds a new KFF survey about Americans’ experiences with gun-related violence and incidents. One in six (17%) say they personally witnessed someone being shot.

Smaller shares say that they have shot a gun in self-defense (4%) or personally been injured by one (4%). In all, slightly more than half (54%) of all adults say they have a connection to at least one of these gun-related incidents. CONTINUED

Kaiser Family Foundation

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Americans’ views on climate, energy policy, and electric vehicles

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Forty-one percent of Americans say they would be at least somewhat likely to purchase an electric vehicle (EV) the next time they are in the market for a new car, according to a new survey from the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC) and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. More than 6 in 10 Americans cite saving money on gas and vehicle maintenance as reasons to purchase one, along with reducing their personal impact on climate change. But cost, infrastructure, and technology are key barriers for majorities of Americans when it comes to purchasing an EV.

When it comes to policies to support getting more EVs on the road, about half of Americans support financial incentives, while fewer support stricter fuel standards or requiring new cars sold in their state to be electric or hybrid. CONTINUED

AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research

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Trump’s hidden advantage in the GOP primary

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Even amid all his legal challenges, Donald Trump has a secret weapon in his drive to win the Republican presidential nomination next year: polling strongly suggests he has transformed the GOP primary electorate in a way that will make him harder to beat.

Since Trump’s emergence as the GOP’s dominant figure in 2016, the college-educated voters generally most skeptical of him have declined as a share of all GOP primary voters, while the voters without a college degree generally most sympathetic to him have increased, an array of public and private polls indicate.

Those changes suggest Trump has set in motion what could prove a self-fulfilling prophecy: compared to when he first captured the nomination in 2016, he’s encouraged more participation in the Republican primaries by the blue-collar voters most inclined to support him and less by the white-collar voters likely to become the centerpiece of any coalition against him. CONTINUED

Ronald Brownstein, CNN

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Biden’s polling numbers should not be this low

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President Biden remains the overwhelming favorite to be the Democrats’ nominee for 2024. He has no serious challengers and looks likely to announce his own bid soon. His job approval with Democrats hovers in the low 80s in recent polls. Presidents with this type of support from their own party usually sweep to renomination.

Yet those same polls display clear worrying signs. The same Economist-YouGov poll that showed Biden with 81 percent job approval with Democrats also found only 48 percent want him to run again. This is similar to a Marquette Law School poll in March that found only 43 percent of Democratic primary voters want Biden to run again. Those are startlingly low numbers for an incumbent president who is not warring with an important segment of his party. CONTINUED

Henry Olsen, Washington Post

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Sharply Fewer in U.S. See Energy Situation as “Very Serious”

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Americans show significantly less concern about the U.S. energy situation now than they did a year ago, with 34%, down from 44%, describing the situation as “very serious.” The 2022 spike came amid sharply rising gas prices and was the highest percentage seeing the situation as very serious since 2011. …

Republican and Democratic opinions on environmental protection versus energy tradeoffs are mirror images of each other. By 79% to 18%, Democrats say the nation should prioritize environmental protection over energy production, while Republicans would prioritize energy production by 80% to 17%. CONTINUED

Jeffrey M. Jones, Gallup

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