Gallup analysis of U.S. public-opinion trends on abortion shows that generational differences in support for broadly legal abortion have diminished over the past decade. According to the survey:

Two important changes are apparent. One is a significant drop in the percentage of seniors saying all abortions should be illegal. This fell from 32% in the earliest years of the trend to 16% in the first half of the 1990s, but has since rebounded somewhat to 21%. This long-term 11-point decline among seniors compares with a 9-point increase — from 14% to 23% — in support for the “illegal in all circumstances” position among 18- to 29-year-olds since the early 1990s.

As a result, 18- to 29-year-olds are now roughly tied with seniors as the most likely of all age groups to hold this position on abortion — although all four groups are fairly close in their views. This is a sharp change from the late 1970s, when seniors were substantially more likely than younger age groups to want abortion to be illegal.

The trend toward a stronger pro-life position among the millennial generation is particularly interesting.

This Gallup survey should be compared with an earlier one that shows how America has, since the early 1990s, become significantly more pro-life: the percentage saying abortion should be legal only under certain circumstances increased from 48 to 57; the percentage saying it should be legal under any circumstances has dropped from 34 to 21; and the percentage saying abortion should be illegal in all circumstances increased from 13 to 18. Michael Gerson explains why in his fascinating column today.