Abortion has passed inflation to become the top issue in the presidential election for women younger than 30 since Vice President Kamala Harris replaced President Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket, according to results released Friday of a survey of female voters by KFF.
About 2 in 5 in the group of young voters said abortion was their top concern in the recent survey, compared with 1 in 5 who ranked it most important in the same survey in the spring.
In the earlier edition, inflation was the top concern for younger voters, as it was for women voters of all ages. Inflation remained the top concern for women in each age group over 30 and women overall. Women overall ranked abortion as their No. 3 concern, after inflation and threats to democracy, but ahead of immigration.
KFF, a health policy research, polling and news organization, surveyed 678 female voters from Sept. 12 through Oct. 1. Most of them were participants in an earlier wave of the same poll, conducted in May and June. The follow-up survey group was supplemented with 29 Black women to ensure an adequate sample size of that group. The sampling error was plus or minus 5 points, with larger ranges for subgroups of voters.
Abortion has long been a major issue, but the landscape shifted in 2022 when the U.S. Supreme Court, powered by three justices nominated by Harris' current opponent, former President Donald Trump, overturned Roe v. Wade and opened the door for states to impose abortion bans.
