The results of the Post Dobbs survey are now final. Pro-abortion forces are in the lead but trends don’t favor them.
First, we broke respondents up by geographic location. Next, we asked about initial reactions to the US Supreme Court’s Dobb’s ruling which overturned Roe v. Wade. We also asked if anyone had changed their mind in the days and weeks since and a lot of people did indeed change their minds about abortion. Most of those switched to the pro-life side.
So according to the responses, about 26% of respondents in the entire Whittier Area supported the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe. 19% said they had no opinion. Those who said they were neutral are going to be crucial in the coming election battles over the issue. However, about 56% of Whittier Area respondents said they opposed the Court’s ruling and said they feared for themselves and people they know. After a few days there started to be a change in opinions. The percentage in support of the Court’s ruling jumped from 26% to 37%. The number of neutral jumped declined to just 7.41%. Meantime, the number of residents angry with the decision also decreased slightly to 55.56%. A lot of neutral and previously pro abortion participants who changed to the pro-life cited the hostile and aggressive tactics of the pro-abortion activists as the prime reason for their switch to the pro-life side. There was a total of 3,900 respondents.
When we looked only at the City of Whittier with 1,700 respondents, we found that nearly 24% of respondents supported the overturning of Roe. 17.65% were neutral. A majority of 58.82% said their initial response was one of resentment and anger. This too changed with time. In the weeks after the decision was made final, the percentage of neutrals dropped to 5.88%. Most of the neutrals who changed their minds went to the Pro-Life side, bringing the pro-life numbers up to 35.33%. None of the city's pro abortion participants changed their minds because the percentage of angry Whittier residents remained 58.82%.
We were able to break these numbers down by council district for the City of Whittier. Initial reactions in District 1 were 33% celebratory out of the district’s 900 participants. Just 11% were neutral while the rest, 56% said their initial reaction was one of anger. Because a lot of neutral residents switched to the pro life side, those numbers changed to 45% of District 1 residents supporting the US Supreme Court decision. . The percentage of District 1 who said they were angry with the decision dropped to 55% with the lost one percentage point being lost as some pro-abortion activists defected to the pro-life side.
In District 2 there was no detectable changes. The district was evenly split between with half supporting the decision and half maintaining a neutral stance.
In District 3, there was an initial even split between those angry with the ruling and those who were neutral. There was significant change in this district where most of those who said they were initially neutral said they were pushed by pro-abortion activists to take the pro-life side due to aggressive tactics by activists that were off putting. The percentage of District 3respondents who said they were still angry about the decision dropped to 49%.
In District 4, with 407 respondents the initial responses were majority opposed to the decision. Participants from district 4 did not report any change in their views on the issue.
We also looked at unincorporated parts of the Whittier Area. In South Whittier with 615 participants, the initial responses were evenly split three ways. Thirty three percent support the Court’s decision, 33% opposed it and 3% said they were undecided. How did that turn out? The neutrals dropped to just 1.7% while the percentage of pro-lifers increased to 50% while those who were angry remained at 33% which would be a minority of South Whittier residents.
How did other Whittier Area communities fare? The majority of participants from Pico Rivera and Spyglass Hill said they opposed the decision and still do. The initial response in East Whittier was split 50-50 between those who were neutral and those who said they were upset about the decision. Were there any changes in opinion in the following days and weeks? Survey says yes. As in other cases, the neutrals in Unincorporated East Whittier went over to the pro-life side changing the dynamic to 50% pro-life and 50% pro-abortion.
Did these responses lead to any actions on the part of the respondents? We found that they did. For the Whittier Area overall, 63% of respondents said they did nothing. Thirty percent said they participated in aggressive protesting while 7% of respondents said they hosted or attended parties to celebrate the decision.
In just the City of Whittier we found that 59% of respondents said they had participated in protests against the decision. Six percent said they went to parties to celebrate and 35% said they did nothing.
In District 1, 22% said they had protested the decision while 87% said they did nothing in regards to the decision.
In District 2, half of respondents said they attended parties to celebrate the overturning of Roe while the other half said they had participated in protesting the decision.
In District 3, participants reported that they did not participate in any celebratory parties or opposition protests.
In District 4, the majority said they protested the decision.
In South Whittier, 17% said they celebrated the overturning of Roe and 17% said they protested it. The majority of people said they did not participate in any of these activities.
In the Whittier Area overall and in each of the geographic locations we were able to break these results down to, nearly everyone said they themselves or someone they knew personally was directly impacted by the US Supreme Court’s Dobb’s decision overturning Roe. There is no part of the Whittier Area or even the City of Whittier that is untouched by the topic. The number one thing that respondents expressed in the open comment portion of the survey was fear, bewilderment, and distrust of the other side. One participant who took the time to fill out the comment at the end of the survey said she had participated in a protest against the overturning of Roe and was followed down the street, after the protest, by a male demanding that she prove her loyalty to the pro-abortion cause by putting a large pro-abortion sticker on her car as if her presence in support of the protest was not enough proof of her support for the pro-abortion/ pro-choice side of the debate. She said he had accused her of not being pro-choice enough and suggested she might have been a spy for the pro-life side.
This leads to our next question about echo chambers and people preaching to the choir about abortion rights. The question was “Do you feel that people are living in their own echo chambers where they keep preaching the same positions on abortion to people who already agree with them?”
In the Whittier Area overall, 54% of respondents said yes. Forty six percent said no. In just the City of Whittier, 63% said yes while 38% said there were no echo chambers. In South Whittier, 63% of respondents disagreed with the idea there being echo chambers.
Regardless of where in the Whittier Area or in the City of Whittier people lived, a majority of respondents on both the pro-life and pro-abortion sides said they opposed boycotting companies based on that company’s stance on abortion.
63% of Whittier Area respondents said that abortion was now a factor in who they would vote for in November. The majority of Whittier Area respondents, 65%, who said they would apply an abortion litmus test in the November election were upset about Roe being overturned.
In the City of Whittier, 82% respondents said they would vote on the candidates based on their positions on abortion rights. Two thirds of Whittier residents who said they would apply the abortion litmus test in November said they were upset about Roe being overturned.
In District 1, 2/3rds of respondents said they would vote on candidates based on their abortion positions. Of those who answered yes to the litmus test question, 66% were upset with Roe being overturned and 35% were happy it was overturned.
In District 2, there was a 50-50 split on both boycotts and election litmus tests. Of those who said they were going to apply an abortion litmus test, the majority reported being neutral on abortion.
In District 3 there was also a 50-50 split but those who said they would apply the litmus test were opposed to the Supreme Court’s decision by a majority in the district.
In District 4, the majority of participants, 75%, were opposed to litmus tests and some expressed shock that anyone would use abortion as a litmus test with all the other stuff happening in the world. Of the 25% of respondents who said they would vote on candidates based on their abortion views; the majority were angry with the Supreme Court.
In South Whittier, two thirds vowed to vote on the November candidates based on their abortion views. The South Whittier residents who supported the litmus test were evenly split between those openly supported the overturning of Roe and those who strongly oppose the court’s decision. This is what we call an electoral stalemate in regards to South Whittier.
Almost no one anywhere in the Whittier Area on either side of the abortion debate was supportive of making the day the top court overturned Roe into a federal holiday. Nor did most residents believe that abortion was a divisive issue with a couple of people commenting that everyone in Whittier agrees with their own personal position on abortion whether that be pro-life or pro-choice.
Our last question was “Do you support or oppose a constitutional amendment to enshrine reproductive rights into the federal constitution?”
In the Whittier Area over all, 81% of respondents supported passing a constitutional amendment to protect women’s reproductive rights. Even at the city and district levels the majority of respondents supported amending the federal constitution to protect women’s reproductive freedoms and rights. The exceptions to this were District 3 and in South Whittier. In both of those communities only 50% of respondents supported amending the Constitution.
Now we suppose you would be interested to know the demographic breakdown of the poll respondents.
The majority of Whittier Area respondents:
a. 70% were biological women
b. 63% of these were cisgender women with the remaining identifying as non-binary.
c. 55% were Catholic and Protestant
d. The top ethnicities were Mixed Race, German, Scandinavian, and Spanish.
e. The income range was 30K to 75K.
f. Most respondents were 35 to 54 years old.
In the City of Whittier:
71% were biological women
65% were cisgendered women
41% were agnostic and 29% were protestant
Most were Mixed Race followed by German, and Scandinavian,
Incomes ranged from 30k to 75K
Age range was 35 to 65.
District 1 56% of respondents were biological cisgender males. 44% of District 1 participants were Protestants and 33% were Agnostic. Most were Mixed Race and German.
District 2. 92% of respondents were biological cisgender women. There was an even split between Protestants and Agnostics.
District 3. 90% of respondents were biological cisgender women. There was a 50-50 split between Catholics and Wiccans in District 3. The top ethnicities of participants were Mixed Race, and Slavic.
District 4. 90% were biological women and 75% were cisgender women. 25% were gender non binary females. 75% were Agnostic and about 25% were Buddhists. The top ethnicities participating in the survey were Mixed Race, Germans, and Scandinavians.
South Whittier- 90% were biological cisgender women. The majority of respondents were Christians with an even split between Catholics and Protestants. There were no ethnic majorities among South Whittier respondents except for the Mixed-Race group.
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