Poll: Candidates Backing Abortion Bans A Deal-Breaker For Many Iowa Voters

A strong majority of Iowans oppose efforts to restrict abortion access. And yet, Iowa’s Republican leaders, including Gov. Kim Reynolds today, continue pushing to implement new government restrictions and bans on women and others’ health care decisions.

According to Data for Progress polling done for Iowa Starting Line, 58% of respondents oppose the Iowa State Supreme Court’s decision to declare the right to abortion isn’t protected by the state’s constitution. That included 88% of Democrats, 62% of Independents, and 30% of Republicans.

Data For Progress poll for Iowa Starting Line

And politicians supporting an abortion ban will likely face fallout at the ballot box for it.

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According to the same poll for Starting Line, 41% of respondents said they wouldn’t vote for a candidate supporting banning abortion in Iowa, and 20% said it would make them reconsider their vote. Only 35% of respondents, mostly Republicans, said it wouldn’t affect their vote at all.

About 91% of Democrats, 63% of Independents and 35% of Republicans said it could impact their vote in some way against that candidate.

Data For Progress poll for Iowa Starting Line

The poll was conducted from July 22 to 29, with a survey of 637 likely voters with a margin of error of ±4 percentage points.

It was the court’s 2018 decision—now overturned—that blocked Reynolds’ recent attempts to impose barriers for people accessing abortion care, including the six-week ban that she asked courts to revisit just today.

“The historic US Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe has given us a new hope and pathway forward to challenge the Iowa court’s previous decision,” Reynolds said in a statement today.

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In June, the US Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v Wade, with justices saying the decision should go back to individual states.

A Des Moines Register poll conducted in July found that 54% of Iowans oppose reinstating the six-week ban, while 38% support it. Overall, 60% of Iowans said abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

“Iowans are exhausted and fed up with politicians interfering in deeply personal decisions,” said State Rep. Jennifer Konfrst (D-Windsor Heights) in a statement. “Governor Reynolds and GOP lawmakers will not stop until there is a complete abortion ban in Iowa. It’s just politics for them and they’ve forgotten about how this will impact Iowans.”

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The question of restricting abortion access came in front of voters for the first time in last week’s Kansas primary. A ballot measure was included asking whether voters thought the Kansas Constitution should be amended to remove the right to abortion, and it was defeated 59-41%

A similar amendment is working its way through the Iowa Legislature. It passed for the first time in 2021 and must pass again before it could show up on the ballot in 2023 or 2024. However, if Reynolds gets her way with the courts, a wide-sweeping abortion ban could go into effect in Iowa before then.

Nikoel Hytrek
08/11/22

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