A DEEPER DIVE ON ABORTION AND VOTERS
By Lisa Desjardins, @LisaDNews
Correspondent
 
By Laura Santhanam, @LauraSanthanam
Health Reporter & Coordinating Producer for Polling
 
How are Americans processing last week’s historic abortion opinion from the Supreme Court? Our latest poll from the PBS NewsHour, NPR and Marist offers some new insights.

What were the headlines?

• Some 66 percent said they know someone who has had an abortion.
• A majority of Americans – 56 percent – oppose overturning Roe v Wade. About the same percentage of U.S. adults overall – 55 percent – support abortion rights.
• But there was a partisan split, with 88 percent of Democrats opposed to the ruling and 77 percent of Republicans supporting it.
• Again, there was another noteworthy partisan divide. Eighty-four percent of Democrats support abortion rights, while 67 percent of Republicans oppose the concept.
• A clear majority – 57 percent – of those surveyed said the court’s decision was based on politics rather than the law. Thirty-six percent said it was based on law.
• Who is more motivated by this? Democrats. Seventy-eight percent said the decision made them more likely to vote in the fall. That compares with 54 percent of Republicans and 53 percent of independents. 

On the show and on the website yesterday, we went through some of these top results. But we’d like to add some of those deeper observations here.
 
Americans feel strongly within their positions
 
Above, you saw that 56 percent of Americans oppose the decision to overturn Roe.  
 
But we also asked how strongly people felt. Some 45 percent strongly oppose that decision, with just 11 percent “opposing,” not strongly. Similarly, 28 percent strongly support overturning Roe, with 12 percent signaling simple “support.”
 
In all, 73 percent of Americans feel strongly either for or against overturning Roe.
 
Questions for Gen X 
 
Generation X, at roughly 40 to 56 years old, can often fall out of the headlines as neither the youngest nor the oldest generation.
 
But in this poll, Gen Xers stood out.
 
Of all generations, Gen X was the most in support of the decision to overturn Roe, with 47 percent backing the idea — though the Silent Generation, at 46 percent, was a close second. Here is how that question broke down across all generations, from the most support (Gen X) to the least, keeping in mind a margin of error of +/- 4.9 percentage points.

• Gen X: 47 percent support overturning Roe
• Silent Generation: 46 percent  
• Baby Boomers: 39 percent
• Gen Z/millennials: 33 percent

Seventy-seven percent of Gen Xers said they knew someone, including themselves, who has had an abortion. That’s almost nine points more than Americans under 40 – and higher than any other generational group.
 
Who is most motivated by this?
 
Democrats are the most motivated when it comes to November's elections because of this decision.
 
But another demographic also stood out. Seventy-four percent of suburban/small city women said that this decision makes them more likely to vote. That same group responded by a similarly overwhelming 66 percent that they oppose overturning Roe.

That is important for a few reasons. A slew of swing House races will be decided in the suburbs, and a motivated group of suburban women in favor of abortion rights could help economically beleaguered Democratic candidates. The only group showing similar motivation was “big city” dwellers – men and women combined – 73 percent of whom said they are more likely to vote in November because of the high court’s decision.
 
Little to no confidence in the Supreme Court
 
Confidence in the Supreme Court has fallen dramatically, too.
 
Days following the decision to overturn Roe, 58 percent of Americans say they have little to no confidence in the nation’s highest court, including most Democrats and a majority of independents.

Image by Megan McGrew/PBS NewsHour
 
That number has made a precipitous drop since February 2018, when roughly the same share of U.S. adults said they had a lot of confidence in the institution.
 
Nearly a third of Americans said they have no confidence at all in the court, a rise of 12 percentage points since May 2022, when a draft majority opinion on the case was leaked to the public.
 
Another 39 percent of Americans say they do have confidence in the court, including 71 percent of Republicans.
 
More on the Roe ruling from our coverage:

• Watch: How the Supreme Court rewrote national abortion law.
• One Big Question: With abortion overturned, an estimated 26 states are certain or likely to ban the procedure. What’s next in the legal battle over abortion?
• An Overview: Is abortion illegal in your state? The Associated Press put together this comprehensive guide on how the high court’s ruling is expected to impact every state.

THE SURPRISE JAN. 6 HEARING
By Joshua Barajas, @Josh_Barrage
Senior Editor, Digital
 
Erica R. Hendry, @ericarhendry
Managing Editor, Digital
 
After a double dose of Jan. 6 hearings last week, the committee was expected to take a break until July. 
 
But – surprise! – the committee announced a last-minute hearing for Tuesday. So you’ll be forgiven if you didn’t know a hearing happened earlier today.
 
The committee’s swift action to present “recently obtained evidence” suggested there were new, urgent details into the House’s investigation of the Capitol insurrection.
 
Turns out, today’s testimony came from a former top aide on former President Donald Trump’s White House staff who sat for four videotaped interviews behind closed doors with committee investigators. And in person, she provided more information on what former Trump knew before, during and after the insurrection.
 
Who was the witness?
 
Cassidy Hutchinson. The 25-year-old was a former senior aide to then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. As such, she had first-hand knowledge of the communications surrounding Jan. 6 and the potential violence that day.
 
Hutchinson, a Republican, testified that she had daily, all-day-long communications with Meadows and other high-ranking officials in the administration. The committee underscored this by showing photos of Hutchinson nearby Trump and other top officials, as well as showing a map of the West Wing, demonstrating how her desk was down the hall -- a several seconds walk – from the Oval Office.
 
(It should be noted that Meadows has refused to testify, and that the committee held him in contempt. The Justice Department, however, declined to charge Meadows.)
 
What did Hutchinson see and hear?
 
Hutchinson’s testimony pointed to several illuminating moments that have yet to be heard in the Jan. 6 hearings.
 
Trump was aware of rioters having weapons that day. A White House deputy chief of staff tasked with security warned Meadows the morning of the attack about the presence of knives, guns, pistols, rifles and spears among rallygoers. Police reports also identified people outside the metal-detecting magnetometers for Trump’s Jan. 6 rally with different sorts of firearms, including AR-15s.
 
Despite this, Trump wanted aides to remove security precautions to allow more people closer to the stage, Hutchinson said. She recalled Trump saying something akin to, “I don’t effing care that they have weapons.”

“They’re not here to hurt me. Take the effing mags away. Let my people in. They can march to the Capitol from here,” she said the president added.
 
Hutchinson also described how adamant Trump was in joining his supporters in their march to the Capitol. When the head of Trump’s security detail, Bobby Engel, said that the trip to the Capitol wasn’t secure or doable, he turned “irate.”

Trump said something to the effect of, "I’m the effing president, take me up to the Capitol now,” Hutchinson recalled later hearing from then-White House deputy chief of staff Tony Ornato. After Engel relayed they had to return to the White House, Trump reached up to the front of the vehicle to grab the steering wheel. Engel grabbed the president's arm and said, "Sir, you need to let go," Hutchinson said. Trump then used his free hand to lunge toward Engel's neck, Ornato told Hutchinson.
 
Hutchinson was also asked what her response was to Trump’s Jan. 6 tweet that former Vice President Mike Pence “didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done.” Hutchinson said, “As an American, I was disgusted.”

“It was unpatriotic. It was un-American. We were watching the Capitol building get defaced over a lie,” she told the committee.
 
And regarding Meadows, Hutchinson testified that her former boss sought a pardon for his role on Jan. 6.
 
Trump denied Hutchinson's account of the attack, as well as her description of him encouraging those with weapons to be let closer to the stage. "I didn't want or request that we make room for people with guns to watch my speech," he said in a statement after the hearing.
 
For more highlights, here’s what we learned from the first, second, third, fourth and fifth hearings.

When is the next hearing?

Although the June 28 hearing came together in short notice, the committee is expected to hold the rest of its hearings past the July Fourth holiday. Of course – as this week has shown – things are subject to change.

For the latest and greatest on the Jan. 6 hearing schedule and who’s expected to testify, check out this page. We’re updating that story as soon as we learn more.

#POLITICSTRIVIA
By Joshua Barajas, @Josh_Barrage
Senior Editor, Digital
 
When the Jan. 6 committee announced a surprised hearing this week, the moment was yet another parallel to the Watergate scandal. This month marks the 50th anniversary of the break-in at Watergate Hotel in D.C.
 
The Senate committee’s investigation culminated in President Richard Nixon’s resignation. And during that probe, in 1973, investigators also announced a surprise witness.
 
Our question: Who was that surprise witness during the Watergate hearings?
 
Send your answers to [email protected] or tweet using #PoliticsTrivia. The first correct answers will earn a shout-out next week.
 
Last week, we asked: Which is the smallest state capital city in the country?
 
The answer: Montpelier, Vermont. According to the latest Census data, the capital has a population of roughly 8,000 people.
 
Congratulations to our winners: Sandra Lawson and Steven Greek!
 
Thank you all for reading and watching. We’ll drop into your inbox next week.