Culture and Social Issues

Florida Activists Falling Short Of Needed Votes To Pass Abortion Amendment In November: POLL

Pro-life and pro-choice demonstrators gather in front of the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on May 3, 2022. - The Supreme Court is poised to strike down the right to abortion in the US, according to a leaked draft of a majority opinion that would shred nearly 50 years of constitutional protections. The draft, obtained by Politico, was written by Justice Samuel Alito, and has been circulated inside the conservative-dominated court, the news outlet reported. Politico stressed that the document it obtained is a draft and opinions could change. The court is expected to issue a decision by June. The draft opinion calls the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade decision "egregiously wrong from the start." (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP) (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Abortion advocates in Florida are falling short of the needed support to get an amendment passed in November that would enshrine the practice as a right in the state’s constitution, according to a poll from USA Today.

The state’s Supreme Court ordered on April 1 that an abortion ballot initiative, which would prohibit the state from enacting a law that “prohibit[s], penalize[s], delay[s], or restrict[s] abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider,” can be put on the ballot for Floridians to vote on. Abortion activists have been working to garner support for the proposal, but only 50% of respondents said they would support the amendment, falling short of the needed 60% majority of voter support, according to the Tallahassee Democrat, a USA Today affiliate.

The poll also found that only half of the state’s residents were familiar with the amendment and that a third would oppose the initiative, according to the outlet. Sixteen percent were either undecided on their position, or were not registered to vote.

Nearly 60% of registered Republicans who participated in the poll said that they were opposed to the measure, while 74% of Democrats indicated that come November they would vote in favor of the amendment, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. About half of Independent voters, 52%, said they would support the amendment, while 28% opposed the initiative.

Florida currently has a law barring abortion after 15 weeks, with limited exceptions, and a new law signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis in April 2023 banning abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected is set to go into effect next month. The state Supreme Court ruled in April that Planned Parenthood, who filed suit against the 15-week law in June 2022, would likely not succeed in their claim that the law violated a person’s right to privacy and ordered both laws be allowed to take effect.

New York and Maryland will also vote on abortion amendments in the fall, while activists in Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada and South Dakota are in the process of trying to get their own initiatives in front of voters this fall.

The poll was conducted between April 5 and 7 with over 1,000 overall respondents, and it has a margin of error of 4.1%. It included 949 registered voters.