Posted on Nov 1, 2023
Republicans Think They've Cracked the Abortion Question
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In the immediate wake of last year’s Supreme Court ruling that ended a federally protected right to abortion, many of the Republican Party’s smartest strategists darkly said that their colleagues had shed their iconic symbol for a different, more fitting zoo creature: less an elephant, more an ostrich. Republicans up and down the ballot were doing their best to pretend their side hadn’t just won the biggest victory in a generation on one of their signature issues.
Republicans Think They've Cracked the Abortion Question
Posted from time.com
Republicans
Abortion
Medical
Health
Posted 6 mo ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Some of the party’s sharpest pollsters sent out messaging memos last year urging candidates to focus on the economy and inflation, spaces where the GOP stood a chance, especially with voters who didn’t strongly identify with either party. “Democrats and the national media are determined to try and make abortion the top issue ahead of the midterms, however, the media is not on our side, and we do not answer to them but to voters,” the Republican National Committee advised candidates and campaigns last September. (Abortion was the top issue for 27% of all voters in last year’s exit polls, trailing only inflation and outpacing gun policy, crime, and immigration by 2-to-1 margins. So, no, it wasn’t just the media looking at candidates’ positions.)
Quite simply, abortion without Roe’s national protection has turned into a clunker of an issue for Republicans, and they know it. It was one thing to promise a grand reversal on a cornerstone of the culture wars. It was quite another to see state legislatures quickly ban or restrict abortion in 21 states and counting. Instead of a Red Wave predicted last year, it was pink at best. When put explicitly on the ballot, abortion rights prevailed in all seven states since Dobbs. They’re not all California-style states, either; Kansas, Montana, and Kentucky have rejected anti-abortion rights groups’ efforts. Even local races are hinging on this; just ask the mayor of Lincoln, Neb."...
..."Some of the party’s sharpest pollsters sent out messaging memos last year urging candidates to focus on the economy and inflation, spaces where the GOP stood a chance, especially with voters who didn’t strongly identify with either party. “Democrats and the national media are determined to try and make abortion the top issue ahead of the midterms, however, the media is not on our side, and we do not answer to them but to voters,” the Republican National Committee advised candidates and campaigns last September. (Abortion was the top issue for 27% of all voters in last year’s exit polls, trailing only inflation and outpacing gun policy, crime, and immigration by 2-to-1 margins. So, no, it wasn’t just the media looking at candidates’ positions.)
Quite simply, abortion without Roe’s national protection has turned into a clunker of an issue for Republicans, and they know it. It was one thing to promise a grand reversal on a cornerstone of the culture wars. It was quite another to see state legislatures quickly ban or restrict abortion in 21 states and counting. Instead of a Red Wave predicted last year, it was pink at best. When put explicitly on the ballot, abortion rights prevailed in all seven states since Dobbs. They’re not all California-style states, either; Kansas, Montana, and Kentucky have rejected anti-abortion rights groups’ efforts. Even local races are hinging on this; just ask the mayor of Lincoln, Neb."...
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