The majority of Americans want a federal law making abortion legal, according to a new poll that follows the leak of a draft opinion from the Supreme Court potentially overturning Roe vs. Wade.
The poll from CBS News and YouGov showed 58 percent of U.S. adults favored making abortion legal, while 42 percent opposed it.
If the Supreme Court strikes down Roe, it would leave to set their own laws on abortion. About half of states are expected to quickly enact bans or severe restrictions in that scenario.
When divided along party lines, 76 percent of Democrats oppose making abortion illegal compared to 52 percent of Republicans.
In terms of Roe vs. Wade specifically, 64 percent of respondents wanted to keep it as is and 36 percent wanted to overturn it.
The poll included 2,088 U.S. adults and was conducted between May 4 and May 6. It has a margin of error of 2.7 percentage points.
The results follow another poll from the Pew Research Center that showed a majority of Americans support the right to an abortion.
In that poll, fewer than 8 percent say it should always be illegal — as could soon be the case in some conservative-led states.
Forty-six percent of people who said they believe abortion should be illegal in most or all cases said it should be permitted if the pregnancy endangers a woman’s life or health.
