Former President Donald Trump is facing the potential loss of suburban women's votes over the issue of abortion, which could decide his fate in November's presidential election, according to a recent survey.
According to a Wall Street Journal poll in seven battleground states, 39% of suburban women say abortion is their deciding factor for their vote, reports the publication.
Almost 75% of those women said abortions should be legal either all of the time or most of the time. In addition, the poll showed that 57% of suburban women thought Trump's policies on abortion are too restrictive, while 20% said President Joe Biden's policies are not restrictive enough.
The most important issues for suburban women in the swing states were:
- Abortion, 39%.
- Immigration, 16%.
- Economy, 7%.
- Anti-left-wing ideology, 4%.
- Inflation, 4%.
- Anti-right-wing ideology, 3%.
The numbers are from a Wall Street Journal poll of 919 registered voters conducted March 17-24. The margin of error was 3.2 percentage points.
The spotlight on abortion grew larger this week, after the Arizona Supreme Court's ruling affirmed a Civil War-era ban on most abortions, leading Trump to argue that the court went "too far" and demanding that the state Legislature reach a solution on the issue.
Suburban-area voters helped put Trump in office in 2016 but shifted their votes to Biden in 2020, when he defeated Trump among suburban women by 19 percentage points.
The current WSJ poll shows Biden ahead of Trump by 17 points in the demographic. About a third of the female voters remained undecided or had not yet fully committed to either candidate.
But recent interviews with about two dozen women in key suburban areas showed that many are motivated by abortion and say it is a major reason to back Biden.
Inflation and the war in Gaza, however, show they may crowd out abortion on concerning issues; and some of those questioned said they will stick with Trump.
Meanwhile, Trump says he wants to leave abortion laws up to the states, rather than the federal government. The Biden campaign says that means he'll back restrictive measures, including Florida's six-week abortion bank.
Trump said this week that Florida will "probably" change the policy, but did not say what he thinks the law should be.
While president, Trump endorsed a 20-week federal abortion ban in 2018; and last month, he suggested he would be open to a 15-week ban. Thursday, however, he told reporters he would not sign a national abortion ban; and his campaign insists he has been long in favor of state decisions on abortions.