Voters in both states overwhelmingly support abortion access but are still favoring former President Donald Trump over Biden 52% to 47% in Arizona and 54% to 45% in Florida, per a CBS/YouGov survey.
Democrats have typically been able to pummel Republicans over the hot-button issue.
In Florida in April, the state’s supreme court upheld a six-week abortion ban that went into effect earlier this month and green-lit a referendum to enshrine abortion access into the state’s constitution.
Unlike other states that necessitated a majority threshold on their abortion referendums, Florida requires 60% of voters to approve it.
Despite once being the quintessential battleground state, Florida has lurched considerably red over recent years, and Republicans now tout a majority of registered voters there.
Still, the Biden-Harris campaign has opened up an office there, and both Biden as well as Vice President Kamala Harris have ventured down to Florida in a bid to keep it in the realm of possibility.
In the Sunshine State, 65% wanted abortion legal in all or most cases, compared to 35% who wanted it illegal in all or most cases, the poll shows.
But for Florida, abortion (53%) lagged behind other issues such as the economy (89%), inflation (84%), the state of democracy (74%), crime (69%), gun policy (60%) and the US-Mexico border (64%) as a “major factor” for the state’s voters in 2024.
A similar trend was true in Arizona.
Earlier this month, Arizona Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs signed a bill repealing a 160-year-old law restricting most abortions performed in the state.
Activists in the state claim to have already amassed the signatures needed for a ballot initiative in November to codify a woman’s right to abortion access in Arizona’s constitution.
About 66% of Arizonans want abortion legal in all or most cases, compared to 34% who want it illegal in all or most cases, the poll says.
As with Florida, abortion (51%) trailed other issues such as the economy (82%), inflation (78%), the state of democracy (70%), crime (59%), and the US-Mexico border (61%) as a “major factor” for Arizona voters in 2024.
About 66% of Arizonans want abortion legal in all or most cases, compared to 34% who want it illegal in all or most cases, the poll says.
Notably, in Arizona, Republican Senate hopeful Kari Lake is running behind Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) 36% to 49% in the race for the coveted seat, according to the poll.
Trump narrowly lost Arizona to Biden, 49.06% to 49.36%, in 2020 but beat him in Florida 51.22% to 47.86% that year.
The 77-year-old former president has moderated himself on the albatross issue ahead of his rematch against his 81-year-old successor and announced that he would defer to the states on abortion.
Simultaneously, Trump publicly contended that Arizona’s 160-year-old abortion policy went too far.
The CBS/YouGov poll was conducted between March 10–16 and sampled 1,510 adults in Arizona with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points and 1,576 adults in Florida with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.