Poll: Economy and inflation top abortion as issues most important to voters

Most voters said they think November’s presidential election will have a “major” impact on abortion access according to a new poll from KFF, though more people said they care about the economy and inflation than abortion or any other individual health issue. 

According to the poll released Tuesday ahead of the presidential debate, 61 percent of voters said the outcome of this year’s presidential election will have a major impact on access to abortion in this country — up 10 percentage points from a similar poll in March. 

The shift occurred mainly among Democratic and independent voters and is likely attributable to the attention Vice President Harris has given to the issue.  

Her ability to talk about abortion in a way that President Biden couldn’t is energizing a core group of voters: Democratic women of reproductive age. According to the survey, about one in five in that group named abortion as their top voting issue. 

“Back when President Biden was the Democratic nominee, they were really unenthusiastic. They were less likely to say that they were motivated to vote,” said Ashley Kirzinger, director of survey methodology for KFF. 

The share of Democratic-leaning women of reproductive age who said they think the presidential election will have a major impact on abortion access increased 31 percentage points in the past six months, according to the survey. 

Among all voters, more than 50 percent said they trust Harris to do a better job on abortion than Trump, whereas just 34 percent said they trust Trump over Harris. According to KFF, that’s a bigger lead on the issue than Biden saw on a similar question before he dropped out of the race. 

But abortion remains far down the list of priorities for voters. According to the poll, four in ten voters chose the economy and inflation as the most important issue determining their vote this fall, followed by “threats to democracy.”  

“It’s important to realize, if you think about things that are motivating people to vote, and what’s top of mind, abortion has really never jumped up to a top issue,” Kirzinger said. “Voters are complex, and there isn’t one issue that’s going to motivate all voters … but that doesn’t mean that voters don’t think that abortion is on the ballot when comparing these two candidates.” 

Only 7 percent of respondents said abortion was the most important issue. Even among Democrats, just 9 percent said abortion was the most important issue.  

Democratic voters were more likely to say they will only vote for a candidate who shares their view on abortion, but most said it is just one of many factors.  

Among all health issues, the most important to voters of both parties and independents was health care costs. When voters were asked to offer in their own words what health care issue they most want to hear the candidates talk about, about four in ten voters across partisanship said the cost of health care. 

The survey of 1,312 adults was conducted Aug. 26 through Sept. 4. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus 4 percentage points.