“Nearly 7 in 10 Americans believe abortion should be limited,” says Dr. Barbara L. Carvalho, Director of the Marist Poll. “After a year of contentious public debate over the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, the results are comparable to the findings of a Knights of Columbus–Marist Poll conducted last January.”
“Since the start of the Knights of Columbus–Marist Poll in 2008, we’ve seen a consistent and clear consensus of Americans who support restrictions on abortion,” said Knights of Columbus Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly. “Likewise, an overwhelming majority of people — 90% this year — believe that our laws can protect both the mother and her unborn child. Too often, the abortion debate is framed in the context of supporting either one or the other. The reality is, we can — and must — craft laws that protect both mothers and their children.”
Supreme Knight Kelly continued, “In early June 2022, we launched a new Knights of Columbus campaign called ASAP, which stands for Aid and Support After Pregnancy. ASAP is a call to action for Knights across the United States and Canada to offer even more support for pregnancy resource centers, maternity homes and other organizations that give direct assistance to new mothers and babies. We set a goal of $5 million in ASAP’s first year, and we’re already well on our way to exceeding that.”
Supreme Knight Kelly concluded, “The Knights will redouble our efforts to restore a culture of life and advance a culture of compassion for pregnant women in need.” Other key 2023 Knights of Columbus–Marist Poll findings include:
77% of Americans believe doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals with religious objections to abortions should not be legally required to perform them.
A majority of Americans — 60% — are opposed to abortion if the child will be born with Down Syndrome.
This survey of 1,025 adults 18 years of age and older residing in the United States was conducted Jan. 6 through Jan. 9, 2023, by The Marist Poll and sponsored by The Knights of Columbus.
Survey questions were available in English or Spanish and conducted online and by phone using the probability-based SSRS Opinion Panel. The sample was balanced to reflect the 2020 American Community Survey five-year estimates for age, gender, income, race and region. Results are statistically significant within ±3.5 percentage points.
There are 885 registered voters. The results for this subset are statistically significant within ±3.8 percentage points. Tables include subgroups only to display crosstabs with an acceptable sampling error.
It should be noted that although you may not see results listed for a certain group, it does not mean interviews were not completed with those individuals. It simply means the sample size is too small to report. The error margin was adjusted for sample weights and increases for cross-tabulations.
For more information, please visit kofc.org/polls.