The Longer Someone Stayed in School, the Likelier They’ll Be ‘Pro-Choice,’ Says Gallup Data

(CNSNews.com) - The longer Americans stay in school, the more likely they are to say they are “pro-choice” on abortion, according to newly released data from the Gallup poll.

Nonetheless, a majority of American college graduates who did not attend graduate school, as well a majority of those who have no better than a high school diploma, say they are pro-life.

In a poll of 1,024 Americans age 18 and older, conducted May 3-6, Gallup asked: “With respect to the abortion issue, would you consider yourself to be pro-choice or pro-life?”

Only 33 percent of Americans with a high school degree or less said they were “pro-choice." Meanwhile, 41 percent of those who had done “some college,” 45 percent of those who graduated from college but did not attend graduate school, and 58 percent of those who did attend graduate school described themselves as pro-choice.

On the other side of the ledger, 53 percent of those with a high school degree or less said they were “pro-life;” as did 49 percent of those who did “some college” and 53 percent of those who had earned a college degree but did not go to graduate school.

Even though a majority of college graduates who did not attend graduate school said they were pro-life, only 37 percent of those who did attend graduate school described themselves as pro-life.

Last week, Gallup released data from the same poll, showing that only 41 percent of Americans overall describe themselves as pro-choice, the lowest percentage Gallup has registered making that declaration since it started asking the question in 1995.

Also in the same poll, Gallup asked Americans whether they thought abortion should be legal under any circumstances, under most circumstances, in only a few circumstances, or illegal in all circumstances. Twenty-five percent said it should be legal under any circumstance and 13 percent said it should be legal under most circumstances. However, 39 percent said it should be legal in only a few circumstances and 20 percent said it should be illegal in all circumstances--making a majority of 59 percent who say abortion should be illegal in most or all circumstances.

Actually, I became totally pro-life in college.(*)
And I recently finished grad school. Still pro-life.

(*)I remember reading back then (early 80s) that the most vocal supporters of abortion were actually teen males. Figures, of course, that they were figuring that they needed a way out of a bad predicament should they ever actually get a girlfriend.

No surprise that the most important finding from the survey was left out. Americans have become more pro-life over the last few years. This is the most significant trend, including those with graduate degrees.

The internals:

Survey Methods Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted May 3-6, 2012 with a random sample of 1,024 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points.

Interviews are conducted with respondents on landline telephones and cellular phones, with interviews conducted in Spanish for respondents who are primarily Spanish-speaking. Each sample includes a minimum quota of 400 cell phone respondents and 600 landline respondents per 1,000 national adults, with additional minimum quotas among landline respondents by region. Landline telephone numbers are chosen at random among listed telephone numbers. Cell phone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods. Landline respondents are chosen at random within each household on the basis of which member had the most recent birthday.

Samples are weighted by gender, age, race, Hispanic ethnicity, education, region, adults in the household, and phone status (cell phone only/landline only/both, cell phone mostly, and having an unlisted landline number). Demographic weighting targets are based on the March 2011 Current Population Survey figures for the aged 18 and older non-institutionalized population living in U.S. telephone households. All reported margins of sampling error include the computed design effects for weighting and sample design.

Here are some other facts they learned from the survey. The longer you are in school, the more likely you are to...

be unable to change a tire
attend Burning Man or SXSW
wear second-hand clothing
be killed in an automobile-bicycle collision
not shave your legs (if female)
shave your chest (if male)
go dumpster diving
be beaten or pepper sprayed by riot police
be awesome at hacky sack

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