It seems inevitable that abortion will be one of the defining issues of the 2024 presidential election, featuring prominently in campaign ads and playing an important role in many down-ballot races too. Yet, despite the conventional wisdom that abortion is a winning issue for Democrats, it may be less critical this year for the simple reason that the views of men and women are moving further apart.
The Great Gender Divide on Abortion
Abortion is one of the rare public policy issues that has remained relatively stable for decades. Gallup polls have shown remarkable consistency over the past 30 years with Americans roughly evenly divided between pro-choice and pro-life identity. That all changed in the last five years. In 2024, Gallup found that 63 percent of women identified as pro-choice, a record high. In contrast, men have not changed much at all in recent years. Only 45 percent of men identify as pro-choice while nearly half (49 percent) identify as pro-life. In fact, there are few…
