How Americans are responding to the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade

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• Nick Schifrin:

  From anger and anguish, to celebration and gratitude, the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade shook national politics and sparked a national response that is playing out in cities and states across the country.

  As of today, abortion is illegal in eight states that had so-called trigger laws in place for this very moment. Five more states will ban abortion within weeks. And, already today, courts have blocked bans from going into effect in several other states.

  Our latest "PBS NewsHour"/NPR/Marist poll reveals how Americans are reacting.

  And we turn to Lisa Desjardins to walk us through it.

  Lisa, welcome.

  How are Americans feeling today about this decision?

• Lisa Desjardins:

  This is something we really wanted to look at, of course, in the poll.

  And I want to start, first of all, with an unusual spot, which is the experience Americans have. How familiar are they with abortion in their own lives? We asked Americans, whether they or anyone they know, including themselves, have had an abortion. And here's what they told us. We saw 66 percent of the people who answered our poll either know someone or they themselves have had an abortion.

  That is two-thirds of this country that has a personal experience with abortion. So, then that brings you to the next question. By the way, one thing about that, that was the only question in the poll where a majority of Americans answered yes. From every demographic, every way of life. A majority of Americans has all had that experience.

  So where are they exactly on the court's decision? When you ask, do you support the court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, 56 percent of Americans say no.

  Now let's take a deeper dive. When we look at this in terms of age of Americans, we see something interesting here. The youngest Americans, Gen Z and millennials, that overwhelmingly, two-thirds, no, but look at that group and between, Gen X, talking 40-year-olds to 56-year-old. That group is split, with just barely a majority saying no. So that's sort of where the divide is in the country in terms of generations on this question.

  And I think you can see that as families are probably having these discussions over the next holiday weekends.

• Nick Schifrin:

  The questions, of course, about how Americans respond to the outcome itself, the verdict itself. But what do Americans think about the court itself and how it came to this decision?

• Lisa Desjardins:

  We have been asking about this for a while.

  And we wanted to ask a very particular question about this decision. We asked people, do you think the court's decision to overturn Roe was based on politics? Was it political? Or was it based on law? Was it legal?

  No surprise, we saw an astounding split by political belief. Democrats believe — look at that — 84 percent of them said this was based on politics. Only 13 percent of Democrats believe this was based on law. The other way around for Republicans, a little bit, little bit, not quite as firmly in favor of the Supreme Court based on the law, but, basically, it's two-thirds of Republicans believe that this was based on law.

  Now, this is this is showing you that what's happened here is the court is political now, that people see it in a political lens. Overall, we also had in this poll again affirmation that a majority of Americans do not trust the Supreme Court, some 58 percent now.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Just amazing.

  We have talked about this, of course, before, but with the decision final, it's expected to energize many voters, of course, come November. Any sense of which side will benefit from that greater energy?

• Lisa Desjardins:

  Our poll did shed some light on that.

  So let's start with a big, broad question. Do you support abortion rights? So, when you ask all Americans together, 55 percent of the country says yes. Now, there's a lot of nuance to whether you support abortion rights or not, right? And what does that mean? At what point in pregnancy are you talking about? But, in general, when you ask that broad a question, you get 55 percent of the country saying yes.

  Now, if you look by party, here, again, is a big split. That same kind of Democrat/Republican split, but look at that independent green at the bottom; 59 percent of independents say that they do, in fact, support abortion rights. Those could be decisive voters in the fall.

  And so, of course, we wanted to ask another question, which is exactly what you're getting not. Who is more energized? We asked specifically, are you more likely to vote in the fall because of the Supreme Court's decision?; 78 percent of Democrats say yes. Some Republicans also are more likely to vote, but it's a lower number.

  Independents, now, that number means the most to me, honestly, Nick, in a way, because those independents, we know that most of them do not agree with the Supreme Court's decision. So Democrats, what they have to do, keep this momentum for their side and also convince those independents that it's worth showing up on this issue many months from now.

  People feel very motivated about it now. Will they in a few months? We will find out.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Lisa Desjardins breaking it down, as always, for us, thank you very much.