SEATTLE — A majority of Washingtonians polled said the U.S. Supreme Court is out of touch with the values and beliefs of most Americans as abortion ranks as their top issue in the midterm election, according to WA Poll results.
Candidates only have two more weeks to make their case and win votes in the midterm election and races all over the country have been heating up, including in Washington state. Abortion is an issue at the top of voters' minds nationwide after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade earlier this year.
According to the new results released Tuesday, 26% of likely voters said abortion is their top issue, while 22% said inflation is most important to them. A trailing 10% said border security was their top issue, and 26% of them identified as "very conservative."
Of those polled, 55% overall said the current Supreme Court is out of touch with the values and beliefs of most Americans, while 61% of very conservative adults – and no more than 43% of any other group – say the Court is in touch.
Republicans are evenly split at 40%.
Of likely voters, 51% said they would be less likely to vote for a candidate who supports federal restrictions on abortion, including 87% of liberals, 73% of Democrats and 55% of women.
The poll results showed women are twice as likely as men to identify abortion as their most important issue, at 34%.
Twenty-two percent of likely voters said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who supports federal restrictions on abortion, including 60% of very conservative voters and 38% of Republicans.
Twenty percent said it makes no difference to them, including 31% of Republicans and 28% of independents, the polls showed.
Of those likely to vote in the U.S. Senate race, 26% said abortion is the most important issue to them, with inflation coming in second at 20%.
Twenty-two percent of voters said inflation was the most important issue to them, including 41% of conservatives and 23% of moderates. Only 14% of liberals said inflation was their top issue.
The poll results showed that 30% of those who voted for former President Donald Trump said inflation was their top issue, compared to only 16% of those who voted for President Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
Nine other issues were listed on the poll but didn't reach 10%. Those issues were crime, climate change, election integrity, voting rights, COVID-19, guns, housing prices, homelessness and foreign policy.
The WA Poll was commissioned by KING 5, The Seattle Times, University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public and Washington State University’s Murrow College of Communication and was conducted by SurveyUSA. It surveyed 875 adults from Oct. 14-19, 2022. Of those adults, 719 were registered voters. The poll represented the demographics of Washington state with 46% from the metro Seattle area, 30% from western Washington and 24% from eastern Washington.