Variations in the Abortion Attitudes of Black and White Americans: Demographic and Religious Divides
摘要
Public opinion on abortion has long appeared stable in the USA, but Black–White differences have changed markedly over time. Black Americans, once less supportive of legal abortion than White Americans, are now more supportive. Despite recognition of this reversal, little is known about how sociodemographic and religious factors presently shape abortion attitudes within each group. Using data from the 2020 Cooperative Election Study, I assess how gender, age, education, income, religious affiliation, and religiosity are associated with support for legal abortion and test whether direction and strength of these associations differ by race. The results indicate that age is associated with abortion attitudes in opposite ways: among Black Americans, older adults are more supportive of legal abortion, whereas among White Americans older adults are less supportive. Education and religiosity shape abortion attitudes in both groups, but their effects are much stronger among Whites. As a result, White adults with lower levels of education or high levels of religiosity are far more opposed to legal abortion than their Black counterparts, whereas racial differences are minimal among the highly educated and the secular. The factors shaping abortion attitudes differ substantially across racial groups, underscoring the limits of treating race as a simple control variable in studies of abortion opinion. These findings have clear implications for understanding abortion politics in post-Roe America, particularly as policy debates increasingly hinge on the mobilization of distinct racial, religious, and educational constituencies.