Watch Democratic Voters’ Real-Time Reaction to SCOTUS Intent to Eliminate Abortion Rights and Endanger Women’s Health

Washington, D.C. | May 5 – Monday night, halfway through HIT Strategies’ monthly focus groups with Democratic voters, Politico leaked a draft majority opinion showing SCOTUS’s intention to overturn Roe, reversing a half-century of federal protection abortion rights. After hearing news of the draft decision, the focus group participants expressed anger and demonstrated resolve to vote in upcoming elections. 

“We learned in tonight’s focus group that young voters, women of color, and Democrats of all backgrounds are incensed by the Supreme Court’s intent to overturn Roe and will fight for the longstanding right to safe abortions,”said Roshni Nedungadi, HIT Strategies founding partner. “Now more than ever, Democrats must galvanize their voters around the Supreme Court and forge a state-by-state battle to save reproductive health freedoms for millions of women.  

Last week, Nedungadi published an op-ed in Newsweek, making a case for Democrats to center GOP abortion restrictions ahead of statewide mid-term elections. 

Quotations from Focus Groups

• “There’s gonna be a much higher rate of women harming themselves trying to do their own abortions and trying to find random people to do these abortions like they used to do before 1973.” – young white woman, base voter  

• “Low-income women or people of color who have uteruses—they’re gonna be the people who suffer the most.” – young Hispanic woman, base voter 

• “What we [men] can do is vote and do what really matters because by us not acting is actually supporting rights being taken away. So I feel like men have an obligation to vote.” – young Hispanic man, base voter 

•  “I think it’ll definitely make me want to organize a lot more than I already do, definitely encouraging and making sure everyone around me is registered to vote, and they do go vote—in these local elections, especially.” – young white woman, base voter 

• “If you have the ability to take time off of work, the money to pay for the gas to get there—people who have that ability will always have access to get an abortion.”  – young Hispanic woman, base voter 

• “I think that [birth control] may be next on their hit list once they have abortion overturned. That goes back to what a woman wants to go do with her body. If they’re not ready to go have gets then they should have the ability to go get on birth control. But after a while, everyone’s gonna say, ‘that’s taking a potential life away from the future.’ Like whose business is it? What another woman does inside their bedroom with their spouse and boyfriend is not my concern. I don’t wanna have to take care of someone else’s kids like that. If they choose to have an abortion, that’s their right, their decision—it’s not my call to make.” – young Black man, base voter 

May Focus Groups  
The HIT focus group sought to explore Democratic voters’ reactions to current events and their levels of political engagement. This focus group was with younger base voters (2020 Biden voters who voted in 2020, 2018, and 2016 elections: ages 25 to 39). 

About HIT Strategies   
As Washington’s leading millennial and minority-owned public opinion research company, HIT Strategies helps progressive leaders and organizations translate the values and attitudes of target audiences into real-time insights. We understand America’s fastest-growing electorate and consumer groups and specialize in targeting communities under-represented in public opinion, including Black Americans, Latino Americans, Millennials + Genz, LGBTQ+, Women, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders. Visit hitstrat.com and follow @HITStrat on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for more information.  

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