61% vs. 41%: The Gender Chasm Over Abortion
A new Gallup survey reveals a record 20-point gender gap on being “pro-choice.” This divide is likely being driven by the increased polarization between young men and women.
Before 2020, men and women held fairly similar views on abortion. In Gallup’s annual surveys, the gender gap between those identifying as “pro-life” never exceeded eight percentage points. But that consensus has now fractured. According to a new Gallup poll, 61% of women now identify as “pro-choice,” compared to just 41% of men. That's a 20-point gap, the largest ever recorded.
Contrary to popular belief, this divergence in opinion started before the 2022 Dobbs decision. The gender gap hit 10-points for the first time in 2020. This was coming off the #MeToo movement and was a presidential election year, when culture war issues were front and center. Of course, the Dobbs decision added fuel to the divide.
Unfortunately, Gallup doesn’t publish crosstabs by gender and age. But I suspect this divide is being driven primarily by young Americans. A 2022 poll by the Survey Center on American Life found that 48% of young women (ages 18-29) believed that abortion should be legal under any circumstance. But only 34% of young men said the same thing. That’s a 14-point gap, by far the largest of any age group.
The 2024 iteration of the survey asked a slightly different question: Do you favor or oppose making it more difficult for a woman to get an abortion? 55% of young women strongly opposed, while only 38% said the same. That’s a 17-point gap. While it’s a slightly different question from 2022, it still shows the youth gender gap is growing.
One of the major takeaways from the 2024 election was the growing partisan gender divide among young voters: Young men are trending more conservative, while young women are trending more liberal. (See “More on the Widening Youth Gender Divide” and “Gender Divide Grows Among Teens.”) Once again, gender is one of the most powerful dividing lines for both Homelanders and late-wave Millennials. I expect this divide to only grow as the Fourth Turning proceeds.