Former President Donald Trump keeps lying that “everybody,” including Democrats, wanted the Supreme Court to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision that had guaranteed abortion rights around the country since 1973.
“Every Democrat, every Republican, everybody wanted Roe v. Wade terminated and brought back to the states,” Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, said on Fox News on Thursday morning.
“Everybody, Democrats, Republicans, Liberals, and Conservatives, wanted Roe v. Wade TERMINATED, and brought back to the States,” he wrote on social media on Thursday night.
Trump, facing criticism for appointing three of the justices who overturned Roe in 2022, has been delivering versions of this “everybody” claim for months. But the claim is an up-is-down reversal of reality, especially the part about the views of Democrats.
Facts First: It’s not even close to true that “everybody” or “every Democrat” wanted Roe overturned. A large majority of Americans and an overwhelming majority of Democrats wanted the Supreme Court to preserve Roe in 2022, according to numerous polls. Democratic support for Roe exceeded 80% in many polls and 90% in some polls.
“So this is a claim that is unusually brazen in how false it is,” said Mary Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California, Davis and an expert on the history of abortion politics.
The numbers debunk Trump’s lie
The specific numbers vary poll by poll, but numerous polls before and after the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe have arrived at broadly similar findings: strong overall support for Roe and even stronger Democratic support for Roe.
For example, a CNN poll conducted by SSRS in January 2022, roughly five months before the Supreme Court ruling, found that 69% of adults and 86% of Democrats were opposed to completely overturning Roe. In CNN polling going back to 1989, adults’ support for completely overturning Roe had never exceeded 36%.
A NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll in May 2022, after a draft of the court’s opinion overturning Roe was leaked, found that 64% of adults and 93% of Democrats opposed overturning Roe.
A Pew Research Center poll conducted in late June and early July 2022, days after the Supreme Court ruling, found that 57% of adults and 82% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents disapproved of the ruling. An NBC News poll conducted in June 2023, roughly a year after the ruling, found that 61% of registered voters and 92% of Democratic registered voters opposed the ruling.
A CNN poll conducted by SSRS in April 2024 found that 65% of adults and 87% of Democrats disapproved of the Supreme Court ruling.
Trump’s false “everybody” claim has been debunked since the spring. So has his related false claim – which he repeated in the Fox News interview Thursday – that “every legal scholar” wanted Roe overturned. Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request to explain why he is still making such comments.