A proposed constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights in Vermont could see a landslide victory in November, according to a new poll released Thursday evening.
The University of New Hampshire survey, commissioned by WCAX, found that 75% of respondents said they would support the measure, known as Proposal 5 or Article 22. Just 18% said they would vote against it and 6% said they were still unsure.
The amendment, which has been approved by the Vermont House and Senate twice over four years, would guarantee “an individual’s right to personal reproductive autonomy.” If approved by a majority of voters in November, it would become part of the Vermont Constitution.
Support for the amendment varied by political party, the poll found, with 94% of Democrats backing it and 56% of independents. Republicans were divided, with 41% supporting it and 45% opposing it.
Only 45% of the voters polled said they fully understood the amendment’s wording, though another 43% said they understood it “somewhat well.”
The text- and web-based poll, conducted from Sept. 29 to Oct. 3, surveyed 765 Vermont residents above the age of 18. The margin of error was 3.5%.
The survey also covered other issues, such as gun control, law enforcement and safe injection sites.
Asked about Vermont’s gun laws, 47% said they should be stricter, while 35% said they should remain unchanged and 15% said they should be less strict. Among gun owners, 35% said they wanted stricter laws, 41% said they should stay the same and 21% said they should be more lenient.
More than a quarter of respondents said they had little or no trust in their local law enforcement. 42% of voters said they had some faith and 31% said they had a lot of trust in local police.
Republicans, older Vermonters, those from central and southern Vermont and those who identify as white “have considerably more trust in their local law enforcement,” the University of New Hampshire pollsters found.
The poll only broke out racial demographics into two categories: “caucasian/white” and “other races/ethnicities.” While only 9% of those who identified as caucasian/white said they had no trust in local law enforcement, 41% of those who identified as a member of other races/ethnicities said they had no trust in local police.
Respondents’ trust in law enforcement increased with age. Only 8% of those 18-34 said they trusted police “a lot.” That amount doubled in the 35-49 category, rose to 42% among those 50-64 and landed at 54% among those 65 and older.
The survey found a close divide on whether to open safe injection sites, where people would be able to use illicit drugs under supervision to combat fatal overdoses. 44% would support such sites, while 40% would oppose them. Another 9% said they were neutral and 7% said they weren’t sure.
Two-thirds of Democrats said they would support opening such sites, but two-thirds of independents and 85% of Republicans said they would oppose them.