- Most of the counties that rejected Kansas' anti-abortion amendment voted for Trump in 2020.
- Kansas voters turned out in high numbers to decisively reject an anti-abortion ballot measure.
Fourteen Kansas counties that voted for President Donald Trump in 2020 joined all five counties that backed President Joe Biden to reject an anti-abortion ballot measure on Tuesday night, according to an analysis by Insider's partners at Decision Desk HQ.
Kansas voters turned out in droves on Tuesday to defeat Amendment 2, the first anti-abortion ballot measure put to voters since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in late June.
Over 900,000 people voted on the amendment on Tuesday, shattering turnout estimates for what was expected to be a low-turnout primary. Voters rejected the amendment by a margin of 59% to 41%.
A "yes" vote on the measure would have eliminated the right to abortion and established no right to public funding abortion under the state constitution. The "no" vote left the constitutional protections to abortion in Kansas unchanged – preserving the status quo and signaling both the unpopularity and the galvanizing impact of abortion in the post-Roe era.
Biden won just Kansas five counties in the 2020 presidential election while "no" prevailed in 19 counties on Tuesday night, meaning that the remaining 14 "no" counties backed Trump in 2020 — and were likely decisive to the amendment's failure at the ballot box. "No" on the amendment also significantly outperformed Biden's margins against Trump in those five counties he carried in 2020.
The 14 counties that backed Trump in 2020 but voted "no" on Amendment 2:
- Cowley County backed Trump with 68% of the vote compared to 30% for Biden in 2020, but voted "no" on Amendment 2 by 52% to 48% on Tuesday.
- Crawford County backed Trump 60% to 40% in 2020 and voted "no" 55% to 45%.
- Franklin County backed Trump 68% to 30% in 2020 and voted "no" 56% to 44%.
- Geary County backed Trump 55% to 41% in 2020 and voted "no" 61% to 39%.
- Greenwood County backed Trump 79% to 18% in 2020 and narrowly voted "no" 50.16% to 48.84%.
- Harvey County backed Trump 59% to 39% in 2020 and voted "no" 53% to 47%.
- Jackson County backed Trump 69% to 29% in 2020 and voted "no" 52% to 48%.
- Jefferson County backed Trump 65% to 33% in 2020 and voted "no" 55% to 45%.
- Leavenworth County backed Trump 59% to 38% in 2020 and voted "no" 59% to 41%.
- Lyon County backed Trump 54% to 43% in 2020 and voted "no" 63% to 37%.
- Miami County backed Trump 68% to 29% in 2020 and voted "no" 52% to 48%.
- Osage County backed Trump 71% to 27% in 2020 and voted "no" 56% to 44%.
- Saline County backed Trump 64% to 44% in 2020 and voted "no" 55% to 45%.
- Sedgwick County backed Trump 54% to 43% in 2020 and voted "no" 58% to 42%.
"No" on Amendment 2 outran Biden in the five counties he won in 2020:
- Douglas County backed Biden 68% to 29% in the 2020 presidential election and voted "no" on Amendment 2 81% to 19%.
- Johnson County backed Biden by 53% to 45% in 2020 and voted "no" 68% to 32% in 2022.
- Riley County backed Biden 51% to 46% in 2020 and voted "no" 68% to 32%.
- Shawnee County backed Biden by just three points, 50% to 47%, in 2020 and voted "no" 66% to 44%.
- Wyandotte County backed Biden 64% to 31% in 2020 and voted "no" 74% to 26%.