The Hamilton College "Hot Button Issues" Poll was featured in The New York Times article, "Abortion has returned to center stage, but should the dialogue be changed? And if so, just how?" According to the article, "A third of a century after Roe v. Wade, the public remains astonishingly ambivalent. A recent national poll of high school seniors, for example, found equal percentages calling themselves "pro-life" and "pro-choice." Over 60 percent believed that the Supreme Court should let Roe stand, and over half wanted abortion legal in all (12 percent) or most (41 percent) cases."
"Asked how they viewed the morality of abortion, regardless of whether they thought abortions should be legal, two-thirds judged them always (23 percent) or usually (44 percent) wrong. And if they became pregnant themselves while in high school? Seventy percent of the young women said they would not consider abortion in their own case."
"This general support for Roe v. Wade combined with considerable moral opposition and even doubts about legal access to abortion in many particular cases is not surprising. The pollsters, from the Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center at Hamilton College and Zogby International, noted that the results, based on a national phone survey of 1,000 students last November, paralleled findings about adult opinion."
"The biggest surprise, perhaps, was that these responses came from an otherwise liberal-leaning group of young people, who unlike their elders overwhelmingly favored legalizing same-sex marriage or civil unions (75 percent) and adoptions by gay couples (63 percent)."
"Asked how they viewed the morality of abortion, regardless of whether they thought abortions should be legal, two-thirds judged them always (23 percent) or usually (44 percent) wrong. And if they became pregnant themselves while in high school? Seventy percent of the young women said they would not consider abortion in their own case."
"This general support for Roe v. Wade combined with considerable moral opposition and even doubts about legal access to abortion in many particular cases is not surprising. The pollsters, from the Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center at Hamilton College and Zogby International, noted that the results, based on a national phone survey of 1,000 students last November, paralleled findings about adult opinion."
"The biggest surprise, perhaps, was that these responses came from an otherwise liberal-leaning group of young people, who unlike their elders overwhelmingly favored legalizing same-sex marriage or civil unions (75 percent) and adoptions by gay couples (63 percent)."
