It’s not how much Democrats talk about abortion. It’s how extreme they are.
Final Election Countdown: Pro-Abortion Democrats’ “Nightmare Scenario”
How it’s going – CNN has an article today bewailing, “Democrats confront their nightmare scenario on election eve as economic concerns overshadow abortion and democracy worries”:
Hopes that Democrats could use the Supreme Court’s overturning of the right to an abortion and a flurry of legislative wins to stave off the classic midterm election rout of a party in power are now a memory…
It’s too early for postmortems. Forty million Americans have already voted. And the uncertainty baked into modern polling means no one can be sure a red wave is coming. Democrats could still cling onto the Senate even if the House falls.
But the way each side is talking on election eve, and the swathe of blue territory – from New York to Washington state – that Democrats are defending offer a clear picture of GOP momentum…
The impossibility of the political environment for Democrats was laid bare in a CNN/SSRS poll released last week. Some 51% of likely voters said the economy was the key issue in determining their vote. Only 15% named abortion – a finding that explains how the election battleground has tilted toward the GOP.
“Only 15%” is an interesting way to describe what is, according to SSRS, a top 2 issue. That much is certainly enough to sway close outcomes.
The problem is not merely that Democrats talk about abortion too much (over $415 million on abortion TV ads alone this cycle!). The problem is that they hold a position – abortion on demand without limit, paid for by taxpayers – that repels 90% of voters. This extreme position was exposed by nearly every prominent GOP candidate in the closing weeks of the cycle, many of whom also aligned themselves with Senator Graham’s federal 15-week limit when unborn child can feel pain – creating a strong contrast and blunting the Democrats’ heavy TV spending.
A White House Divided
Meanwhile from Reuters:
Some senior White House officials have been second-guessing their messaging to voters around abortion in recent weeks, sources familiar with the matter said, as forecasts turned in Republicans' favor in the run up to the midterm elections…Some White House officials believe they should have linked abortion to economic concerns more, rather than fundamental rights and privacy, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.
Stacey Abrams, is that you? The suggestion that children are somehow implicated in the bad economy and that it makes sense to kill them rather than provide financial relief is not an improvement. To most families it is bewildering and abhorrent.
But not to worry, the White House remains blithely confident in the abortion lobby’s talking points:
White House spokesman Kevin Munoz dismissed "any notion of over focus" on [abortion] and said Biden has addressed multiple issues. He shared a memo from [pro-abortion] groups saying abortion remains at the top of voters minds.
Pollsters, Media, Stop Hiding the Ball on Abortion Limits
Some media outlets are taking a different approach – insisting that late-term abortion is more popular than ever.
A new ABC/Washington Post poll is the latest to get to the bottom of the vague, shifty questions that no one is really asking. “Legal in all/most cases” or “illegal in all/most cases” are categories that communicate little of what voters know about abortion laws across the country and can be sliced and diced to get the desired result. So instead of a headline that reads “64% of Americans reject abortion up to birth, support limits” (a less sensational finding), ABC claims support for abortion any time, for any reason is surging.
Relatively few major polls ask about policies resembling Senator Graham’s legislation, or about heartbeat protections or any other gestational limits that prompt respondents to consider where they really draw the line, even though such proposals have received plenty of press.
Our fact check today includes seven diverse polls from 2022 alone that show Americans reject late-term abortion:
“The abortion lobby’s media allies are running cover again. We call on pollsters and the media to stop playing games and communicate the truth about where the overwhelming majority of Americans stand.” – SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser
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