"First, many Americans know nothing about Roe, and much of what others do know is incorrect. According to Pew Research Center polls, for example, nearly 40 percent of all Americans and 57 percent of those under 30 cannot associate Roe with any particular subject or believe that it involved issues such as school desegregation or environmental protection. Second, many polls asking about support for Roe v. Wade describe it in ways that falsely inflate its support. Polls by the Pew Research Center and NBC News, for example, frequently say that Roe established “a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion, at least in the first three months of pregnancy.” Acceptance of this incorrect description inflates support for Roe because support for legal abortion is highest in the same period. Support for Roe would likely decline significantly if these polls accurately described it as establishing “a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion during all nine months of pregnancy.” Research has yet to find polls that include such an accurate description. Third, opinions of Roe are likely influenced by what people think would happen if it were overturned. CBS News polls asking if Roe should be overturned, for example, say that it “made abortion legal.” Respondents who incorrectly believe that overturning Roe would automatically make abortion illegal may oppose doing so for that reason alone."
January 1, 1970