Legality of Abortion, 2018-2020 Demographic Tables

The following tables provide the demographic breakdown of Americans' broad views about the legality of abortion. The annual results for 2018 to 2020 are based on Gallup's Values and Beliefs poll, conducted each May.

• The first table for each year displays each group's views on whether abortion should be "legal under any circumstances," "legal only under certain circumstances" or "illegal in all circumstances."
• The second table for each year details these views further according to a follow-up question asked of those who say abortion should be legal only under certain circumstances. This specifies whether they think abortion should be legal "in most circumstances" or "only in a few circumstances."

	Legal under any	Legal under certain	Illegal in all	No opinion	Number of interviews
	%	%	%	%	n
U.S. adults	29	50	20	1	1,028
Gender
Men	25	54	20	2	537
Women	32	46	20	2	491
Age I
18 to 29	41	39	20	1	132
30 to 49	26	47	24	2	259
50 to 64	30	55	14	1	279
65 and older	19	55	24	1	339
Age II
18 to 34	33	42	23	2	201
35 to 54	31	48	19	2	272
55 and older	23	56	20	1	536
Education I
No college	19	45	33	3	204
Some college	29	55	15	1	358
College graduate only	36	51	12	1	264
Postgraduate	41	48	10	1	196
Education II
Total college graduate	38	50	11	1	460
Not college graduate	24	50	25	2	562
Yearly household income
Less than $40,000	23	46	27	3	268
$40,000 to $99,999	29	50	21	--	380
$100,000 or more	39	51	9	--	290
Race/Ethnicity
Non-Hispanic White Americans	27	52	20	1	760
Total Hispanic or non-White Americans	32	45	21	3	246
Ideology
Conservative	8	55	35	1	365
Moderate	31	55	12	1	390
Liberal	54	33	11	2	249
Party ID
Republican	13	59	27	1	321
Independent	26	50	23	1	369
Democratic	49	42	8	2	319
Leaned party ID
Republican/Lean Republican	14	57	29	1	476
Democrat/Lean Democratic	45	43	11	2	480
Attend religious services
Weekly	13	47	39	2	269
Nearly weekly/Monthly	26	58	15	1	210
Seldom/Never	38	47	13	1	523
Region
East	32	50	17	1	210
Midwest	27	49	22	2	217
South	23	52	24	1	354
West	35	48	16	2	247
Gallup, May 1-13, 2020

	Legal under any	Legal under certain	Illegal in all	No opinion	Number of interviews
	%	%	%	%	n
Gender
Men	25	56	18	1	529
Women	24	50	24	2	480
Age I
18 to 29	36	47	16	1	144
30 to 49	24	54	21	1	263
50 to 64	22	54	23	1	279
65 and older	18	55	23	4	302
Age II
18 to 34	32	52	15	1	206
35 to 54	23	54	22	1	287
55 and older	21	52	24	2	495
Education I
No college	20	48	29	2	235
Some college	21	58	20	1	339
College graduate only	32	54	13	1	255
Postgraduate	36	52	10	2	176
Education II
Total college graduate	33	53	12	2	431
Not college graduate	20	52	25	2	574
Yearly household income
Less than $40,000	18	50	30	2	248
$40,000 to $99,999	26	54	19	2	401
$100,000 or more	33	54	12	1	276
Race/Ethnicity
Non-Hispanic white	25	54	19	2	728
Total Hispanic or nonwhite	24	50	25	1	260
Ideology
Conservative	11	53	35	2	391
Moderate	22	61	16	2	341
Liberal	52	39	8	1	252
Party ID
Republican	12	55	32	1	340
Independent	24	56	18	2	352
Democrat	39	45	14	2	299
Leaned party ID
Republican/Lean Republican	13	60	26	1	484
Democrat/Lean Democratic	38	45	15	2	437
Attend religious services
Weekly	12	47	39	2	260
Nearly weekly/Monthly	14	54	30	1	256
Seldom/Never	36	55	8	2	488
Region
East	30	55	13	1	212
Midwest	25	52	22	2	212
South	19	53	25	2	345
West	28	50	21	1	240
Gallup, May 1-12, 2019

	Legal under any	Legal in most	Legal in only a few	Illegal in all	Legal-unspecified/No opinion	Number of interviews
	%	%	%	%	%	n
Gender
Men	25	16	40	18	1	529
Women	24	11	38	24	4	480
Age I
18 to 29	36	16	31	17	1	144
30 to 49	24	12	41	21	1	263
50 to 64	22	12	41	23	2	279
65 and older	18	14	40	23	5	302
Age II
18 to 34	32	17	35	15	1	206
35 to 54	23	12	42	22	1	287
55 and older	21	12	39	24	4	495
Education I
Postgraduate	36	18	33	10	3	176
College graduate only	32	18	34	13	3	255
Some college	21	15	42	20	2	339
No college	20	7	41	29	2	235
Education II
Total college graduate	33	18	34	12	4	431
Not college graduate	20	11	41	25	2	574
Yearly household income
$100,000 or more	33	16	36	12	2	276
$40,000 to $99,999	26	15	39	19	2	401
Less than $40,000	18	10	40	30	2	248
Race/Ethnicity
Non-Hispanic white	25	14	39	19	3	728
Total Hispanic or nonwhite	24	11	38	25	1	260
Ideology
Conservative	11	6	46	35	2	391
Moderate	22	17	42	16	3	341
Liberal	52	18	21	8	2	252
Party ID
Republican	12	8	47	32	2	340
Independent	24	16	39	18	3	352
Democrat	39	15	29	14	3	299
Leaned party ID
Republican/Lean Republican	13	10	49	26	2	484
Democrat/Lean Democratic	38	16	28	15	3	437
Attend religious services
Weekly	12	5	42	39	2	260
Nearly weekly/Monthly	14	13	40	30	3	256
Seldom/Never	36	17	37	8	3	488
Region
East	30	14	41	13	2	212
Midwest	25	11	39	22	2	212
South	19	12	41	25	3	345
West	28	16	33	21	3	240
Gallup, May 1-12, 2019

	Legal under any	Legal only under certain	Illegal in all	No opinion	Number of interviews
	%	%	%	%	n
U.S. adults	29	50	18	2	1,024
Gender
Men	27	54	17	1	552
Women	31	46	20	3	472
Age I
18 to 29	37	42	19	2	166
30 to 49	30	50	18	1	275
50 to 64	25	52	19	3	264
65 and older	25	55	19	2	307
Age II
18 to 34	36	43	20	1	235
35 to 54	28	53	17	1	284
55 and older	25	53	19	3	493
Education I
Postgraduate	38	53	7	2	206
College graduate only	40	45	13	2	238
Some college	27	56	16	1	315
No college	23	47	27	3	256
Education II
Total college graduate	39	48	11	2	444
Not college graduate	25	51	22	2	571
Yearly household income
$75,000 or more	34	53	11	2	410
$30,000 to $74,999	29	50	19	1	364
Less than $30,000	24	46	30	0	153
Race/Ethnicity
Non-Hispanic white	29	54	16	1	753
Total Hispanic/Nonwhite	31	42	24	3	244
Ideology
Conservative	14	57	28	2	383
Moderate	31	52	16	1	353
Liberal	51	38	10	1	257
Party ID
Republican	11	61	27	1	303
Independent	30	50	18	3	423
Democrat	46	40	11	2	282
Leaned party ID
Republican/Lean Republican	14	61	25	1	475
Democrat/Lean Democratic	44	43	11	2	444
Religion
Protestant/Christian	25	51	22	3	531
Catholic	22	53	22	3	200
None/Atheist/Agnostic	47	48	5	*	165
Attend religious services
Weekly	20	37	40	3	222
Nearly weekly/Monthly	21	55	22	2	284
Seldom/Never	37	53	9	1	512
Region
East	37	47	12	4	193
Midwest	26	54	17	3	213
South	22	49	28	1	362
West	36	51	12	1	256
* Less than 0.5%
Gallup, May 1-10, 2018

	Legal under any	Legal in most	Legal in only a few	Illegal in all	Legal-unspecified/No opinion	Number of interviews
	%	%	%	%	%	n
U.S. adults	29	14	35	18	3	1024
Gender
Men	27	15	39	17	2	552
Women	31	14	32	20	3	472
Age I
18 to 29	37	13	29	19	2	166
30 to 49	30	16	33	18	2	275
50 to 64	25	12	39	19	3	264
65 and older	25	14	41	19	3	307
Age II
18 to 34	36	13	29	20	1	235
35 to 54	28	15	38	17	2	284
55 and older	25	14	38	19	3	493
Education I
Postgraduate	38	26	26	7	3	206
College graduate only	40	13	32	13	2	238
Some college	27	14	42	16	2	315
No college	23	11	36	27	3	256
Education II
Total college graduate	39	19	29	11	3	444
Not college graduate	27	15	38	18	3	571
Yearly household income
$75,000 or more	34	19	34	11	3	410
$30,000 to $74,999	29	15	35	19	1	364
Less than $30,000	24	5	40	30	1	153
Race/Ethnicity
Non-Hispanic white	29	16	38	16	2	753
Total Hispanic/Nonwhite	31	11	30	24	4	244
Ideology
Conservative	14	8	48	28	2	383
Moderate	31	16	34	16	2	353
Liberal	51	20	17	10	1	257
Party ID
Republican	11	8	53	27	1	303
Independent	30	15	33	18	4	417
Democrat	46	18	22	11	2	282
Leaned Party ID
Republican/Lean Republican	14	12	48	25	2	475
Democrat/Lean Democratic	44	18	24	11	2	444
Religion
Protestant/Christian	25	10	40	22	4	531
Catholic	22	16	37	22	3	200
None/Atheist/Agnostic	47	21	26	5	1	165
Attend religious services
Weekly	20	4	33	40	3	222
Nearly weekly/Monthly	21	12	41	22	3	284
Seldom/Never	37	19	33	9	1	512
Region
East	37	17	29	12	5	193
Midwest	26	11	43	17	4	213
South	22	10	38	28	1	362
West	36	21	29	12	1	256
Gallup, May 1-10, 2018

Gallup measures Americans' attitudes on abortion each May as part of its Values and Beliefs poll -- one of 12 surveys that make up the Gallup Poll Social Series.

The full trend on this question among U.S. adults is available on the Gallup Abortion A-Z page.

Explore Gallup's curated archive of data and analysis on abortion on the Abortion Topics page.