Abortion changes the face of battleground states
A new study reveals how abortion and reproductive rights are impacting elections in six key battleground states. In North Carolina, a shocking abortion confession rocked the gubernatorial race. Find out what it means for the presidential election. Plus, the battle for rural voters is intensifying as Republicans try to extend their lead in less-populated areas.
Summary A majority of Hispanic Americans support abortion rights, according to a new AP-NORC poll. About 1 in 6 Hispanic Protestants and about two-thirds of Hispanic Catholics say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to the poll. The poll also found that Hispanic Americans are sharply divided in their views of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
A new poll finds that a majority of Hispanic Americans — Catholic, Protestant or unaffiliated — believe abortion should be legal in most or all circumstances.
The poll, conducted September 12-16 by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Policy Research, was released as the debate over abortion access remains a hot topic ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November.
Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris is a strong supporter of abortion rights. Her Republican rival, former President Donald Trump, has boasted about Supreme Court appointments that led to the repeal of abortion rights nationwide.
For decades, some political analysts have tried to portray Hispanic Americans as “socially conservative,” and many of them are, but polls find that about one in six Hispanic Protestants and about two-thirds of Hispanic Catholics say abortion should be legal in all or most cases.
A similar share believes Congress should pass legislation guaranteeing access to legal abortion nationwide.
RELATED: Map: Most religious U.S. states in 2024, according to report
The survey results are similar to those of other major religious groups in the United States, except for white evangelical Protestants, where only about a quarter say abortion should be legal in all or most cases.
Overall, the vast majority of U.S. Catholics across demographics support abortion rights, even though the Catholic Church’s highest officials have made opposition to abortion a top priority.
Hispanic American attitudes toward abortion after Roe v. Wade
About 4 in 10 Hispanics in the United States identify as Catholic, about a third as Protestant or “other Christian,” and about a quarter as having no religion, according to the AP-NORC poll.
About half of Protestants identify as evangelical or convertible, as do about 10 percent of Catholics.
Ali Valenzuela, a political science professor at American University who studies Hispanic politics, told The Associated Press that many Hispanics used to be opposed to abortion, primarily for religious reasons. He attributed the change in views to “changing political realities” after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, putting abortion access at risk in many states.
About 4 in 10 registered Hispanic Protestant and Catholic voters said abortion policy was one of the most important issues on the November ballot, according to the poll, and they were more likely to say the economy, health care, crime and immigration were the most important issues.
FILE – A voter in the California primary election holds up an “I Voted” sticker in Spanish outside a polling station in San Diego, California, June 7, 2016. (Photo by Bill Wechter/AFP via Getty Images)
Hispanic Americans’ views on Trump vs. Harris
Regarding the 2024 presidential election, opinion polls show Hispanic Americans are sharply divided in their views of Harris and Trump.
Harris was viewed somewhat or very favorably by about 4 in 10 Hispanic Protestants and about half of Hispanic Catholics, while Trump was viewed favorably by about 4 in 10 Hispanic Protestants and Catholics.
Lorraine Martinez, 68, from California, said she was raised Catholic and, although she no longer attends church regularly, her faith has instilled in her values ”to care for your neighbor, to be kind and not be cruel,” she told The Associated Press.
Martinez said her 35 years as a teacher influences her priorities this election season: immigration and education.
“It’s wonderful to see (migrant) kids coming, growing up and other kids embracing them,” Martinez, who remembers Vietnamese refugees attending the school starting in the 1980s and various immigrant groups since then, told The Associated Press.
Martinez, who plans to vote for Harris, added that he strongly opposes mass deportations and family separations.
She also believes reproductive health decisions, including IVF treatment, should be decisions that women should make without government interference, and supports legal access to abortion.
Pam Butcher, 54, of Waverly, West Virginia, whose mother’s family immigrated to the United States from Mexico, is a Trump supporter who believes abortion should be illegal in most cases.
“This is very important to me. I’m pro-life,” Butcher told The Associated Press. “So if the mother’s life is in danger, you have to do it to save her, and if that’s her choice, there could be rape or incest … but to me, that’s murder.”
She added that President Trump “did not criminalize abortion, but rather restored rights to the states on a very controversial issue.”
Butcher attends a Protestant church and says faith is important not only to his decision to vote for Trump, but to his daily life.
“This country was founded on religious principles,” she told The Associated Press. “I don’t think religion should be forced on anybody, but I also don’t think we should remove religion from everything.”
RELATED: More Americans identify as “non-religious” than 10 years ago, especially this group
Gabriella Maldonald, a 20-year-old Catholic from Chicago, said she would also vote for Trump. Maldonald added that she opposes abortion but considers it medically necessary at times. She believes the Republican Party would do a better job on other issues important to her, including the economy, crime and immigration.
For Haley Rader, a 21-year-old from California, inflation is the biggest issue this election season.
“It’s hard to buy a gallon of milk and gas is really expensive,” the community college student told The Associated Press, adding that Latino mothers have to drive 30 minutes to get to work.
On immigration, Rader believes “it’s wrong to just cross the border” and that the government needs a better system to legally process people who come to the U.S. seeking safety.
About half of registered Hispanic Protestant and Catholic voters in the AP-NORC poll said immigration is one of the most important issues in this election, while only about 1 in 10 of each group said it was not important.
The poll found that roughly 60% of Hispanic Protestants and Catholics said religious groups should provide assistance to immigrants in the U.S. illegally, consistent with the overall view of Americans.
The poll found that neither Trump nor Harris has an edge among Latino Catholics on how they handle immigration, while Latino Protestants are slightly more likely to say they trust Trump to handle the issue.
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This story was written based on information from the AP-NORC Poll, conducted Sept. 12-16, 2024, among 2,028 adults. The sample was drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. The Associated Press contributed to this story reported from Cincinnati.
