Rich people are pro-choice

Responses for ALL GSS respondents to the question of whether they think abortion should be legal for any reason. (And as I pointed out before, the wording of this question makes Americans appear to be less pro-choice than they really are.)

This shows the very strong correlation between family income and views on abortion. Wealthy Americans are pro-choice. Which is a big problem for Republicans, because poor people will vote Democratic for the government benefits, and rich people will vote Democratic because they find the abortion issue toxic. (This may have gone in the opposite direction in the days of Reagan, but the Republican strategy is no longer working in presidential elections.)

What I think is weird is the very sharp increase in pro-choice responses when the family income passes above $75K. What's so significant about $75K?

Frequency Distribution
Cells contain: -Row percent -Weighted N		ABANY
		1 YES	2 NO	ROW TOTAL
INCOME06	1: UNDER $1 000	44.7 19.1	55.3 23.6	100.0 42.7
	2: $1 000 TO 2 999	42.1 16.2	57.9 22.2	100.0 38.3
	3: $3 000 TO 3 999	33.9 13.0	66.1 25.4	100.0 38.3
	4: $4 000 TO 4 999	30.6 5.4	69.4 12.2	100.0 17.5
	5: $5 000 TO 5 999	28.4 9.1	71.6 23.0	100.0 32.1
	6: $6 000 TO 6 999	41.7 9.3	58.3 13.0	100.0 22.2
	7: $7 000 TO 7 999	26.2 12.2	73.8 34.5	100.0 46.7
	8: $8 000 TO 9 999	50.6 31.0	49.4 30.2	100.0 61.2
	9: $10000 TO 12499	26.8 30.5	73.2 83.6	100.0 114.1
	10: $12500 TO 14999	35.2 35.6	64.8 65.5	100.0 101.1
	11: $15000 TO 17499	37.9 48.6	62.1 79.5	100.0 128.1
	12: $17500 TO 19999	28.7 22.9	71.3 56.8	100.0 79.7
	13: $20000 TO 22499	28.5 37.6	71.5 94.6	100.0 132.2
	14: $22500 TO 24999	29.0 36.1	71.0 88.4	100.0 124.5
	15: $25000 TO 29999	35.5 63.7	64.5 115.5	100.0 179.2
	16: $30000 TO 34999	41.9 80.9	58.1 112.0	100.0 192.9
	17: $35000 TO 39999	34.3 67.6	65.7 129.1	100.0 196.7
	18: $40000 TO 49999	38.8 131.8	61.2 208.2	100.0 340.0
	19: $50000 TO 59999	38.2 127.9	61.8 206.5	100.0 334.4
	20: $60000 TO 74999	39.9 165.5	60.1 249.5	100.0 415.0
	21: $75000 TO $89999	50.2 156.9	49.8 155.4	100.0 312.3
	22: $90000 TO $109999	44.1 134.3	55.9 170.5	100.0 304.8
	23: $110000 TO $129999	48.5 103.4	51.5 109.7	100.0 213.1
	24: $130000 TO $149999	61.4 71.8	38.6 45.1	100.0 116.9
	25: $150000 OR OVER	57.2 164.4	42.8 123.1	100.0 287.6
	COL TOTAL	41.2 1,594.7	58.8 2,276.9	100.0 3,871.6

Comments

[Sojourner]

I'm beginning to think Captain Capitalism's idea of sitting back and enjoying the decline is the only method of retaining sanity. Because I've come to the point where I'll have to believe this country is done.

[bluto]

That's the point where the range begins where daughters who get knocked up have a real risk of dropping in class for at least a generation or three.

[Anonymous]

You can meet all of your needs at $75k. Everything above $75k is pure vanity unless you live in a hyper expensive (read: blue) city like New York.

[John]

@HS: "This may have gone in the opposite direction in the days of Reagan, but the Republican strategy is no longer working in presidential elections."

When Reagan was President, there was no real chance that Republicans could enact pro-life laws. Pro-choice voters could ignore the pro-life rhetoric and elect Republicans, safe in the knowledge that Roe v Wade was the law of the land. This is no longer the case.

[Half Canadian]

Do 58.8% of the general public believe a woman shouldn't be able to get an abortion for any reason (give or take 5%)? I thought it was lower.

BTW, there was a time when Democrats competed for the pro-life vote.

[Joseph Hertzlinger]

My guess: $75,000 is the dividing line between neighbors of abortionists and non-neighbors.