Avalanche recently conducted a deep qualitative listening survey with 546 Americans to  understand how voters relate to the concept of abortion generally and to the regulation of  abortion specifically. Our proprietary text analysis process enables a nuanced understanding of  the values and beliefs important to American voters relating to the regulation of abortion, based  on a large sample of open-ended data. (Methodology detailed on page 6).      This research clearly demonstrates that the strong majority of Americans support  reproductive Freedom.​ While the public discourse on this topic often highlights the intense  polarization associated with people’s comfort with abortion, this research shows that despite a  wide array of feelings about the issue, a strong majority of Americans ultimately oppose  government bans and support reproductive freedom.      TOPLINES  A strong majority of American voters oppose the government preventing a woman from  making her own decision about abortion.   ● 43% of voters support a woman’s right to abortion and believe it should be legal and  available  ● An additional 29% of voters are personally against abortion, but do not believe the  government should prevent a woman from making that decision for herself  ● 26% of voters personally believe having an abortion is wrong and believe that it should  be illegal    Political discourse in America largely reflects only those who support unrestricted access  and those who support government bans, largely ignoring a critical segment of 29% of the  electorate. We call them the Freedom First segment:  ● They experience a spectrum of emotions about access to abortion, but are aligned in  their anger, frustration, disgust, and fear about the regulation of abortion  ● They are uncomfortable with the idea of personally accessing abortion, but they believe  that abortion is and must be a personal decision made by each woman for herself  ● They perceive restrictive regulation of abortion as an attack on personal freedom and as  untoward government control  ● They are equally likely to be liberal or conservative, but are unlikely to be strongly either  ● They are unequivocal in their belief that women’s personal freedom must be protected      AVALANCHE - avalanchestrategy.com - AUGUST 7, 2019  Contact ​hello@avalanchestrategy.com​ for a briefing or additional analysis of these findings  SUMMARY FINDINGS    Our research shows that although recent public discourse on abortion would suggest that  it’s a highly polarized issue with clear sides and significant support on either side, the  reality is quite different. I​ nstead we find that although American voters experience a  spectrum of personal comfort with the decision to have an abortion, a very strong majority  oppose government bans and support each woman’s personal freedom to decide for  themselves.     Furthermore, this research focuses on more deeply understanding the often ignored silent  middle on reproductive rights - the 29% of likely voters who are personally uncomfortable with  accessing abortion, but who prioritize freedom first and therefore oppose government  interference in a woman’s personal choice.      We begin by validating widely accepted findings published by Pew and others that ​the  majority of Americans oppose government bans on abortion and support the protection of  individual reproductive freedom. To begin to understand the nuanced decision making at play  for Americans on this issue, we use a three point scale that allows respondents to indicate both  individual comfort with accessing abortion, and the belief that abortion should be legal.     This research suggests that position on access to abortion isn’t a clearly drawn line and  isn’t nearly as polarized as the popular landscape might suggest. ​A significant portion of  American voters are personally uncomfortable with abortion, but strongly believe in individual  freedom and oppose government bans.    ● 43% a ​ re personally comfortable with the  idea of accessing abortion AND believe it  should be legal and easily available.   ● 29% ​are personally uncomfortable with  the idea of accessing abortion AND do  not believe the government should  prevent a woman from making that  decision for herself. ​ W ​ e call them the  Freedom First segment.  ● 26% ​are personally uncomfortable with  the idea of accessing abortion AND  believe it should be made illegal.       While Americans express a spectrum of complex feelings about abortion itself, 72% are  strongly aligned in their belief that amidst such complexity, the priority must be the  protection of individual freedom.     To understand this belief more deeply, we compare the feelings of Americans about the  concept of accessing abortion, to their feelings about the current regulation of abortion.         AVALANCHE - avalanchestrategy.com - AUGUST 7, 2019  Contact ​hello@avalanchestrategy.com​ for a briefing or additional analysis of these findings  First respondents are asked how they feel about access to abortion.       Respondents report a spectrum of feelings about access to abortion itself, notably:   ● Frustration & hope​ among those who are personally comfortable​ ​and support access  ● Disgust, sadness, & anger​ among those who are personally uncomfortable and support bans  ● Sadness, indifference, & frustration​ among those who are personally uncomfortable with  abortion, but support individual freedom and legal access    Respondents are then asked how they feel about the current regulation of abortion. A  strong majority of respondents are aligned in their anger, frustration, disgust and fear  about the current regulation of abortion.      While there are significant shifts across all segments, the most dramatic shift is among those  who oppose government bans on abortion despite their personal discomfort with abortion.     AVALANCHE - avalanchestrategy.com - AUGUST 7, 2019  Contact ​hello@avalanchestrategy.com​ for a briefing or additional analysis of these findings  About the regulation of abortion, this Freedom First segment sets personal discomfort  aside, moving from sadness and indifference about abortion itself - to frustration, anger,  and disgust about the government restricting the individual freedom of women.     Notably when thinking about  regulation of abortion, t​ he Freedom  First segment shifts towards strong  support of access in the following ways:     ● 12% increase in anger  ● 12% increase in disgust  ● 6% increase in fear  ● 18% decrease in sadness  ● 9% decrease in indifference  ● 7% decrease in hope    This Freedom First segment is largely ignored in the current political debate, and  represents critically overlooked segment of Americans.​ Understanding this segment is  critical to understanding where American voters are on access to abortion, and how  out-of-step recent efforts to ban abortion are with the beliefs and desires of a strong majority of  voters.         The 26% of respondents who prioritize freedom first despite personal discomfort are a  complex and politically important mix of voters. They are:  ● Likely to be either conservative or liberal, but unlikely to be strongly either  ● Made up of 44% Independents, 27% Democrats and 28% Republicans  ● Skewing only slightly female, with 56% women  ● Skewing somewhat suburban    To better understand how this critical and complex segment relates to access to abortion,  we ask respondents to explain their feelings about the current regulation of abortion in an  open-ended format.​ Responses are coded and analyzed to bring quantitative rigor to a deep  understanding of the priorities and considerations Americans are weighing about this issue.     AVALANCHE - avalanchestrategy.com - AUGUST 7, 2019  Contact ​hello@avalanchestrategy.com​ for a briefing or additional analysis of these findings    The Freedom First segment perceives restrictive regulation of access to abortion as  untoward government control that limits the personal freedom of women​. For this  segment, this isn’t a question of liking or not liking abortion. It isn’t a question of deciding to  ever have an abortion.         A detailed breakdown of the two themes most important to the Freedom First segment  reinforce and add color to the specific ways that freedom and control are motivating this  segment of Americans to prioritize reproductive freedom over personal comfort with abortion.     Among respondents citing the themes ​Role of Government (​ left) or ​Personal Freedom (​ right)​,  more detailed text analysis provides a breakdown of the topics most frequently mentioned.      It is clear that for the Freedom First segment, abortion is and must be a deeply personal  decision, which must not be controlled by the government. In particular:  ● Government control is the most cited topic relating to the role of government  ● Concern about control is the most referenced topic within personal freedom  ● Personal decision making is referenced more by Freedom First than any other segment       AVALANCHE - avalanchestrategy.com - AUGUST 7, 2019  Contact ​hello@avalanchestrategy.com​ for a briefing or additional analysis of these findings  Finally, in case there remained any confusion on where American voters stood on the question  of who should decide who gets access to abortion, we asked them this question plainly and  openly.     American voters strongly believe that the decision to access or to not access abortion  must be a personal decision made by the pregnant woman.​ Text analysis was conducted to  identify these top themes, presented by position on the issue.     A strong majority of Americans voters are clear and articulate about their support for  women’s reproductive freedom. ​When asked in an open-ended format to identify who should  decide who gets access to abortion:  ● 95% of those who support unrestricted access cite the woman or patient, with 19% also  referencing support of a doctor or partner  ● 77% of the Freedom First segment cite the woman or patient, with 20% also referencing  support of a doctor or partner  ● Only 19% of even those who support bans explicitly respond that they believe it is the role  of government to decide who has access to an abortion    This research clearly demonstrates that the strong majority of Americans support  reproductive Freedom.​ While the public discourse on this topic often highlights the intense  polarization associated with people’s comfort with abortion, this research shows that despite a  wide array of feelings about the issue, a strong majority of Americans ultimately oppose  government bans and support reproductive freedom.          AVALANCHE - avalanchestrategy.com - AUGUST 7, 2019  Contact ​hello@avalanchestrategy.com​ for a briefing or additional analysis of these findings  METHODOLOGY    Avalanche provides deep and accurate insight into the values, emotions, and beliefs that drive  behavior on key issues. Our technology leverages both human expertise and natural language  processing to quickly and accurately interpret and analyze large volumes of qualitative data. We  deliver the depth of a focus group, with the scale of polling.    Since launching in 2017, Avalanche gained the backing of Higher Ground Labs and supported  strategy and messaging for leading organizations in the progressive ecosystem.    An Avalanche Listening Survey combines open and close-ended questions to deeply  understand how people relate to issues. Close-ended questions provide additional clarity and  comparability with existing research, while open-ended questions provide rich and wholly novel  data sets to understand the beliefs, values, and emotions through which segments of the public  are currently relating to issues. Avalanche works with best-in-class data collection partners to  gather targeted representative samples of respondents.    The Civiqs Panel  The data in this report comes from a listening survey of 546 registered voters conducted using  the Civiqs panel. Avalanche designed a Listening Survey, which Civiqs fielded to their online  panel to collect responses. Raw data and weights were then provided from Civiqs to Avalanche  for analysis. The Civiqs panel is a nationally representative panel of randomly selected U.S. adults.  Civiqs employs a quota sampling procedure to ensure that the sample is demographically  representative of the target population. Panelists are randomly recruited and not financially  incentivized to complete surveys.     Data Collection Methodology  Data for this report was collected from the panel between May 30 - June 3, 2019. To ensure  representative samples from many specific subsets in addition to the national sample, the  survey was emailed to over eleven thousand participants reflecting a completion rate of  approximately 15%. More details on the Civiqs Panel and Targeted Survey methodology can be  found ​here​.     ​Processing Methodology  Avalanche uses a proprietary natural language processing system to analyze open-ended  responses. First, important themes are identified through a combination of behavioral theory,  computational techniques, and human expertise. These themes may include stories, tone,  metaphor, or other elements of language. The chosen themes are then identified at scale with  algorithms that ensure accuracy and rigor.     While particular elements may change from project to project, our technology consistently  identifies the core aspects of how a person relates to an issue in terms of: priorities (the most  salient aspects of the issue), values (the moral reasoning driving position), and emotion (the way  a person feels about the issue). We customize the analysis for every project based on the insights  of expert human reviewers to dynamically identify emergent themes. This allows humans to  define the elements of speech that matter most, and the technology to identify those parts  accurately across large datasets.     AVALANCHE - avalanchestrategy.com - AUGUST 7, 2019  Contact ​hello@avalanchestrategy.com​ for a briefing or additional analysis of these findings  Survey Sample Detail  From a large universe of potential American voters, we carefully constructed a sample, N=546,  weighted to closely match the distributions of the 2018 electorate on gender, age, race,  education, and political party, as reported by Pew. This sample also has a distribution of opinions  on the legality of abortion that closely match nationally polled numbers. While it is not possible to accurately forecast a 2020 electorate with confidence at this stage,  we can compare the demographic distribution of the sample to the demographic distribution  of t​ he 2018 Electorate according to Pew Research​. This sample matches those distributions,  and represents a highly plausible electorate.    We break the sample down into Democrats and Republicans, and show the percentage of  each category in the Civiqs sample we used compared with the percentages reported by Pew,  showing a consistently close match, within these subsets.    AGE  [18,30]    (30,45]    (45,65]   (65,105]   CIVIQS DEM  12  36  31  18  PEW 2018 DEM  16  32  27  25  CIVIQS GOP  9  24  41  24  PEW 2018 GOP  8  27  33  32  RACE  White  Black  Hispanic  Other  CIVIQS DEM  68  11  14  7  PEW 2018 DEM  65  20  15  5  CIVIQS GOP  97  1  1  1  PEW 2018 GOP  92  1  7  0  GENDER  Male  Female    EDUCATION  < College  >= College  Non-Response  CIVIQS DEM  37  63    CIVIQS DEM  52  47  1  PEW 2018 DEMS  38  62    PEW 2018 DEM  56  43  N/A  CIVIQS GOP  54  46    CIVIQS GOP  53  43  4  PEW 2018 GOP  52  48    PEW 2018 GOP  70  30  N/A        We also compare the geographic distribution of the Civiqs sample to the geographic  distribution of the US population and find a very close match.     REGION  Northeast  Midwest  West  South  CIVIQS  17.5  19.8  24.2  38.5  CENSUS  17.2  20.9  23.8  38.1        AVALANCHE - avalanchestrategy.com - AUGUST 7, 2019  Contact ​hello@avalanchestrategy.com​ for a briefing or additional analysis of these findings  Overall, we believe this sample is generally consistent with a reasonable expectation of likely  supporters of either party at this early stage in the election. As with every poll, this instrument  can and should be re-fielded in the future with both expanded and longitudinal samples, as  estimates of likely voter demographics solidify leading up to the election.    Question Wording  This summary of findings is based on a number of novel questions. Furthermore, our overall  approach specializes in developing especially effective open-ended questions. As such, we are  including the full wording of the questions on which these findings are based. For simplicity,  we are not including basic demographic and screening questions, which are available upon  request.    The Listening Instrument included other questions as well, the results of which are not  included in this summary of findings. The order of response options for multiple choice  questions were also randomized.     Question Name  Question Text  Type of response collected  Position  If you had to fit your opinion into a very simple bucket: Which  of the following statements comes closest to your views?  - I personally support a woman’s right to  abortion and believe it should be legal and  available  - I am personally against abortion, but I do  not believe government should prevent a  woman from making that decision for herself  - I personally believe having an abortion is  wrong and should be illegal  - Unsure  Emotions about  access to abortion  What emotions do you feel, when you think about access to  abortion?  Emotions  Emotions about  regulation of  access to abortion  What emotions do you feel, about how the government  currently regulates access to abortion?  Emotions    Understanding  why   Please help me understand WHY you FEEL the way you do.   Open  Decision maker  There are many different opinions about who should get  access to abortion -- but in your opinion, who should make the  Open  decision, about who gets access to abortion?              AVALANCHE - avalanchestrategy.com - AUGUST 7, 2019  Contact ​hello@avalanchestrategy.com​ for a briefing or additional analysis of these findings