Voters overwhelmingly expressed support the Equal Rights Amendment

– 7 in 10 voters support the ERA being placed in the Constitution, with a strong majority (57%) strongly supporting the ERA, compared to 12% who oppose the ERA

New Survey:

The Power of Abortion Rights and the Equal Rights Amendment

In Driving the 2024 Elections

A new national Ms. magazine and Feminist Majority Foundation poll by Lake Research Partners finds that abortion and the Equal Rights Amendment are strong voter turnout issues separately, but even more powerful when combined. Candidates talking about abortion and the ERA together is a powerful combination to mobilize Democrats and Independents, especially Independent women, younger women, voters who support abortion rights, college-educated women, Latinas and Black voters, and voters ages 30-39 in the 2024 elections.

“Three-quarters (74%) of all voters support a person’s right to make their own reproductive decisions without government interference, including about abortion, contraception, and continuing a pregnancy,” said Katherine Spillar, executive editor of Ms. magazine.

“By contrast only 17% are opposed. And notably, half of Republicans and 81% of Independents support an individual’s right to make their own reproductive decisions.” There is a gender gap among Independents and Republicans, with women more likely to strongly support a person’s right to make their own reproductive decisions.

“What’s more, among voters who support abortion rights, especially younger women, abortion and women’s rights combined are top issues that will determine their vote next year. The overturning of Roe v. Wade has lit a fire under voters, and continues to be a powerful turnout issue, especially among younger women, college-educated women, Latinas and voters ages 30-39,” Spillar continued. “Banning abortion motivates voters to turn out in the elections next year, with 72% of voters who support abortion rights motivated, compared to 48% of voters who do not support abortion rights,” continued Spillar.

“Now that voters, especially women voters, know that rights can be taken away, they want an amendment to the US Constitution guaranteeing that rights cannot be ‘denied or abridged on account of sex’”, said Eleanor Smeal, president of Feminist Majority Foundation and long-time leader in the drive for the Equal Rights Amendment. In the poll, voters overwhelmingly expressed support the Equal Rights Amendment — 7 in 10 voters support the ERA being placed in the Constitution, with a strong majority (57%) strongly supporting the ERA, compared to 12% who oppose the ERA. “All demographic subgroups, except for Republicans, strongly support placing the ERA in the Constitution. Support for the ERA is a universal value among Democrats and very strong with Independents, especially Independent women. Even among Republican women, 50% support adding the ERA to the Constitution” continued Smeal.

“What’s more, a majority of voters say they consider themselves to be a feminist or a strong feminist (59%) compared to 29% who say they are not a feminist or anti-feminist,” said Smeal. “Those with the largest margin who say they are a feminist compared to those who say they are not include younger women, college-educated women, Democrats and Independent women. In all cases, there is a gender gap in every sub-group, with women are more likely to consider themselves to be a feminist than men.”

A full analysis of the survey can be found here.

Methodology:

Lake Research Partners designed this survey that was fielded in an omnibus survey conducted online from September 8- 10, 2023. The survey reached a total of 1000 adults and this data includes only the 847 registered voters who were surveyed. The survey was fielded online using a probability sample. Households invited to join the panel are randomly selected from all available households in the U.S. Persons in the sampled households are invited to join and participate in the panel. The demographic benchmarks of the total adults surveyed came from the 2022 March Supplement of the Current Population Survey (CPS). The data for registered voters were weighted to adjust for gender by region, age, race, gender by race, and gender by choice stance to reflect the demographic composition of the registered voter population.

The margin of error is +/-3.4%. The margin of error for subgroups is higher.