Support for abortion rights seemed to drive the outcome of crucial races for Democrats up and down the ballot in the 2022 midterm elections, despite suggestions that the issue had lost its significance. And in four states—California, Kentucky, Michigan and Vermont—voters decided in favor of abortion access.

“When voters had the ability to enshrine abortion rights into their state laws or constitutions, they have done so even in states that are more conservative on other social issues,” Shana Gadarian, Merle Goldberg Fabian Professor of Excellence in Citizenship and Critical Thinking, tells U.S. News & World Report. “That is, abortion rights are salient and were a driving force for both registrations over the summer and blunting some of the losses that Democrats expected in Congress and the state level.”

Gadarian was also quoted in the Axios article, “Republicans' abortion silence backfires in midterms.” There is a “mismatch between policies about abortion and attitudes about abortion at the state level,” says Gadarian.

While opinions around abortion are “relatively nuanced,” even “Republican voters tend to be more pro-choice than the policies that we're seeing in Republican states,” Gadarian adds.