Voters in three states \u2014 Arizona, Missouri, and Nevada \u2014 chose on Tuesday to advance protections for abortion rights in their state constitutions. Donald Trump, meanwhile, is likely to win all three states in his victorious bid for the White House.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a conundrum for Democrats, who expected ballot initiatives on abortion rights in those states to boost the prospects of their candidates, including Vice President Kamala Harris. But data from VoteCast, a large survey of U.S. voters conducted by The Associated Press and partners including KFF, found that about 3 in 10 voters in Arizona, Missouri, and Nevada who supported the abortion rights measures also voted for Trump.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe saw lots of people who voted in favor of abortion access and still voted for Donald Trump,\u201d said Liz Hamel, director of Public Opinion and Survey Research for KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News.<\/p>\n
VoteCast is a survey of more than 115,000 registered voters<\/a> in all 50 states conducted between Oct. 28 and Nov. 5. It\u2019s intended to be \u201cthe most accurate picture possible of who has voted, and why,\u201d according to the AP<\/a>.<\/p>\n About 1 in 4 of the polled voters said abortion was the \u201csingle most important\u201d factor to their vote, though that number was higher among Democrats, young women, Black adults, and Hispanic adults.<\/p>\n Abortion rights referendums passed in seven states on Tuesday, including Missouri and Arizona, where state bans were overturned. Vice President Kamala Harris made reproductive rights a cornerstone of her campaign, but the VoteCast results reinforce earlier surveys that indicated economic concerns were the foremost issue in the election.<\/p>\n Tuesday\u2019s was the first presidential election since the U.S. Supreme Court\u2019s conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade<\/em>. During Trump\u2019s first term as president, he nominated three Supreme Court justices who later joined the 2022 ruling that eliminated women\u2019s constitutional right to abortion care.<\/p>\n Mike Islami, 20, voted for Trump in Madison, Wisconsin, where he\u2019s a full-time student. He said abortion is \u201ca woman\u2019s right\u201d that \u201cwas definitely in the back of my mind\u201d when he cast his ballot.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think much is going to change\u201d about abortion access during Trump\u2019s second term, he said. \u201cI believe his policy is that he\u2019s just going to give it back to the states and from there they could decide how important it was.\u201d<\/p>\n The survey found that the percentage of voters who said abortion was the most important factor in their vote was similar in states that had abortion measures on the ballot and states without them.<\/p>\n When voters cast their ballots, they were more motivated by economic anxiety and the cost of filling up their gas tanks, housing, and food, according to the survey results. Trump won those voters as much in hotly contested states such as Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as in reliably red states.<\/p>\n Glen Bolger, a Republican campaign strategist, said the 2022 election results demonstrated that Republican candidates are better off talking about the economy and the cost of living than they are about abortion.<\/p>\n This year, Trump voters who supported abortion rights amendments may have decided to take Trump \u201cat his word that he was not going to support a national ban,\u201d Bolger said. In casting their vote for Trump, he said, those supporters may have thought, \u201cLet\u2019s elect him to deal with the cost of living and health care and gasoline and everything else.\u201d<\/p>\n The VoteCast survey found stronger support for abortion ballot initiatives from female voters: 72% of women in Nevada, 69% in Arizona, 62% in Missouri.<\/p>\n Erica Wallace, 39, of Miami, voted for Harris and in favor of an abortion rights ballot measure in Florida, which fell just short of the 60% threshold needed to amend the state constitution.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a grown woman, you\u2019re out and you\u2019re working, living your life,\u201d said Wallace, an executive secretary who lives in Miami. She said the state\u2019s ban, which criminalizes abortion care before many women know they\u2019re pregnant, amounts to unequal treatment for women.<\/p>\n \u201cI pay my taxes. I live good,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m doing everything every other citizen does.\u201d<\/p>\n Men were more likely to vote against protecting abortion rights. Men voted 67% in Nevada, 64% in Arizona, and 55% in Missouri for the abortion rights ballot initiatives.<\/p>\n The VoteCast survey found that, overall, voters believed Harris was better able to handle health care. That is consistent with the long-standing view that \u201cDemocrats traditionally have the advantage on health care,\u201d Hamel said. Still, Trump outperformed Harris among more than half of voters who said they were very concerned about health care costs.<\/p>\n Family premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance rose 7% in 2024 to an average of $25,572 annually, according to KFF\u2019s 2024 Employer Health Benefits Survey<\/a>. On average, workers contribute $6,296 annually to the cost of family coverage.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody is impacted by high health-care costs, and nobody has a solution to it,\u201d Bolger said. \u201cThat\u2019s something voters are very frustrated about.\u201d<\/p>\n Florence Robbins in Madison, Wisconsin, and Denise Hruby in Miami contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n KFF Health News<\/a> is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF\u2014an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF<\/a>.<\/p>\nUSE OUR CONTENT<\/h3>\n