https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/aug/25/the-gop-won-overturning-roe-but-is-losing-the-abor/The GOP won overturning Roe, but is losing the abortion debateRepublicans need to go on the offense (and compromise)By Steve Levy
August 25, 2022
NOTE: When reading at the Washington Times, DISABLE JAVASCRIPT in your browser. This can be done with a click of the mouse using free add-ons/extensions.Excerpt:Republican commentators are in a quandary as to why Democrat Pat Ryan defeated Republican Marc Molinaro in a New York swing seat contest for Congress. Or how Democrats are leading in key U.S. Senate races for the midterm election, despite the fact that the country is wallowing in Democratic-caused hyperinflation, open borders and record-breaking crime waves.
The answer?
To paraphrase former Bill Clinton operative James Carville: It’s abortion, stupid. (We can also couple in the impact that multiple Trump investigations have had on distracting the focus from these Democratic liabilities.)
There have been two seminal political moments in the Biden administration that have altered the trajectory of public opinion. The first was the botched Afghanistan withdrawal last August, which combined gross incompetence with horrific policy. The debacle made Mr. Biden look feeble, illogical and out of touch. It marked the end of his honeymoon and a clear dive toward the polling dumpster.
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Republicans have traditionally been on the losing side of the abortion argument, given that most agree with the policy baked into the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.
In May of 2021, Gallup polls showed Americans’ support for abortion in all or most cases at 80%, while the Pew Research Center finds 59% of adults believe abortion should be legal.
An NPR/PBS poll showed that this year, two-thirds of the American public opposed Roe’s reversal.
That concept was confirmed just last month in a Kansas referendum which surprised many political observers but shouldn’t have. Yes, even conservative Midwesterners (when they got in the polling booth) didn’t want the government removing options in the first trimester.
It’s simply hard to fathom how a party can maintain dominance nationwide promoting ending abortion choice in the early months when the public is seemingly demanding it.
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