UNF Poll: 69 Percent in Favor of Abortion Amendment

Nearly 7 in 10 likely voters in Florida say they're in favor of codifying abortion rights in the state, according to a new poll released Tuesday by the University of North Florida's Public Opinion Research Lab (PORL).

According to the survey, 69% said they support Amendment 4, 23% say they're against it, and 8% responded "don't know." Notably, 53% of those who identify as Republican say they support the measure.

The state Supreme Court ruled on April 1 that a ballot measure to legalize abortion until viability could go on the ballot despite a legal challenge from state Attorney General Ashley Moody, who argued that there are differing views on the meaning of "viability" and that some key terms in the proposed measure are not properly defined.

Advocates collected nearly a million signatures to put a state constitutional amendment to legalize abortion until viability on the ballot, surpassing the nearly 892,000 required.

Sixty percent of voters would have to agree for it to take effect.

The amendment states that "no law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient's health, as determined by the patient's healthcare provider."

PORL faculty director Michael Binder predicts that support for Amendment 4, titled "Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion," will wane by November.

"Again, we have yet to see campaigns on either side of this really get moving," Binder said in the survey analysis. "Factor in the highly contested and contentious financial impact statement recently added to the ballot summary, and I would expect to see support for this amendment drop before November."

Regardless, support for the abortion rights amendment is currently outperforming Democrats in the state.

Democratic presumptive nominee Kamala Harris trails Republican nominee Donald Trump by 7 points, 49% to 42%, according to the survey. Meanwhile, Democratic challenger to Sen. Rick Scott, Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, trails the incumbent by 4 points, 47% to 43%.

"What's really interesting is that Trump has a couple point bigger lead than Rick Scott, who's only up by four — just inside the margin of error of this poll," Binder said in the analysis. "Scott has a history of winning razor thin statewide races in Florida, and in a state that has become significantly more red in the past six years, this could be another close race for Scott."

PORL surveyed 774 likely Florida voters from July 24-27, and the survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.6 percentage points.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.