Jesse Wegman, a member of the New York Times editorial board, says polling shows the Supreme Court, which is expected to overturn Roe v. Wade next month, is "out of step with most Americans." To support that claim, Wegman points to Gallup results indicating that "an overwhelming majority of Americans still support a woman's right to terminate her pregnancy in at least some circumstances." But since that "overwhelming majority" includes people who describe themselves as "pro-life" and therefore probably favor tight restrictions on abortion, the finding that Wegman cites does not tell us what Americans think about specific policies. Nor does it tell us whether they think those policies should be left to the states, which is what overturning Roe would do.
Gallup and other polling organizations have asked more pertinent questions, and the results do indicate that most Americans support Roe. But polling anomalies suggest that some of the people who take that position do not fully understand what it entails. And as critics of Roe would be quick to point out, constitutional adjudication is not a popularity contest, which makes the relevance of polling data questionable.
