Surge in Voter Registration and Enthusiasm Linked to Energy Around Abortion Rights  

Washington DC – The midterm political landscape shook up immediately when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade in June. Now less than 70 days before Election Day, new data and polling indicate the threat to abortion rights is motivating voters to voice their opposition  loud and clear at the ballot box. In a July Upshot analysis of 10 states, women made up 55% of newly registered voters in those states.

Jenny Lawson, executive director of Planned Parenthood Votes, explained the surge in voter registration this election cycle:

“This election is about who has the power to control our bodies and lives. Anyone who thinks voters will turn a blind eye and let anti-abortion rights politicians strip us of our rights is severely underestimating the power of women and the American people.They are outraged, motivated, and energized like never before. Voters understand the stakes for abortion rights and will turn out in droves to protect their reproductive freedom.”

After Roe was overturned, Kansas was the first state where abortion rights were literally on the ballot. Following the decision, more than 70%  of newly registered voters in Kansas were women. High levels of registrations persisted through Kansas’s primary, where a strong turnout from Democrats and unaffiliated voters led to a resounding defeat of a referendum that would have ended abortion rights in the state.

In Pennsylvania, a key battleground state this cycle for both the U.S. Senate and governor’s races, women are outpacing men by about 12 percentage points in new registrations since the decision. Sixty-two percent of women registered as Democrats since the court ruled to overturn Roe v Wade in the JWHO v. Dobbs case.

In Michigan, where legal battles are taking place over abortion rights, women out-registered men by 8.1% since the Dobbs decision to end federally protection of abortion rights was handed down. In Wisconsin, where abotion is virtually now a felony, except in instances where it is needed to save the mother’s life, women have out-registered men by 15.6% since June. And this trend is not defined by red or blue states, notes Tom Bonier, CEO of TargetSmart, a Democratic political data and data services firm.

Enthusiasm for abortion rights is also at an all-time high: A new CBS poll found that “more Democrats (77%) say abortion is "very important" than describe any other issue that way. Nationally, by “more than two to one, likely voters say their vote for Congress will be to support abortion rights rather than to oppose them.”   

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Planned Parenthood Votes is an independent expenditure political committee registered with the Federal Election Commission.