Support for abortion rights is increasing as restrictive laws spread.

Support for abortion rights among Americans has increased over the last year, as several state governments point to access restrictions. According to a new Reuters / Ipsos poll, 58% of Americans believe that abortion should be legal in most cases, an increase of eight percentage points from a similar survey conducted in July 2018. The poll suggests that Democrats are the most passionate about the subject, with 81 percent saying that it should be legal in most or all cases. This compares to 55% of Republicans who say that abortion should be illegal in most or all cases.

The poll comes as eight Republican-controlled states have passed new restrictive abortion laws this year, a decision that many see as an effort to get the Supreme Court to rule on the issue. The Reuters / Ipsos survey confirms what several others have said, namely that Americans as a whole are opposed to highly restrictive abortion laws, such as the one recently approved in Alabama, which bans abortion in near all cases. Eighty percent, for example, reported supporting the right to abortion in cases of rape or incest.

Although the recent wave of anti-abortion measures has helped rally the Conservatives, the survey also shows that the strategy may not be very effective in winning voters. Only 9% of Republicans said their first preference would be to vote for a candidate who favors the ban on abortion. Democrats also do not seem to regard it as the most urgent problem, since only 11% of respondents prefer to vote for a candidate whose main objective would be to protect the right to abortion.

This latest poll is in line with other recent polls that showed that Americans did not support restrictive abortion laws and that the vast majority wanted Roe v. Wade be left in place. A recent Morning Consult / Politico poll found that 56% of registered voters are opposed to other states adopting laws similar to the one approved in Alabama. It is no wonder that many Conservatives have moved away from these laws. Even President Donald Trump has said he favors exceptions in case of rape and incest.