Half Of Voters Want Abortion Ruling Upheld, Poll Finds

NEW HAVEN (AP) — A majority of voters want to know in advance how a nominee to the US Supreme Court would rule on abortion and half want President Bush to nominate justices who would uphold the decision making abortion legal, a poll released Wednesday found.

The national poll by Quinnipiac University found that 62 percent of voters say a nominee to the high court should publicly state his or her position on abortion. By a 50-34 percent margin, voters say Bush should nominate justices who would uphold the Roe v Wade decision making abortion legal in the first three months of pregnancy.

“By a big majority, Americans want to know in advance how a Supreme Court nominee would vote on Roe v Wade. And half of the voters want that nominee to uphold the historic abortion ruling,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

The poll, which surveyed 1,529 registered voters nationwide last week, comes as Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, 80, has cut back on his workload while receiving treatment for thyroid cancer.

The poll found that 16 percent of Americans say abortion should be legal in all cases and 41 percent in most cases. Twenty-six percent say abortion should be illegal in most cases and 13 percent favor outlawing the procedure in all cases.

The poll also surveyed voters about gay marriage and the death penalty.

Nearly two-thirds of voters oppose a law allowing same-sex marriages and by a 51-45 percent margin oppose a law to legalize same sex civil unions. The poll found that 53 percent of voters oppose amending the US Constitution to ban same sex marriage.

“Even the halfway measure, legalization of same sex civil unions, loses,” Carroll said. “Americans don’t support same sex civil unions or marriage, but they don’t want to tinker with the Constitution on this issue.”

Voters favor the death penalty, 62-29 percent, according to the poll. But when offered a choice of punishment, 46 percent of voters prefer life without parole while 42 percent favor the death penalty, the poll found.