Five Reasons Abortion May Not Deliver for Democrats
When the president is faring poorly in the polls and people are unhappy about the economy, it’s hard for other concerns to break through.
Not necessarily a winning issue.
Photographer: BRYAN R. SMITH/AFPThere are new restrictions on abortion in Florida, Georgia, Ohio and Texas. Three of those states have been competitive in recent presidential elections, and the fourth, Texas, has shown signs of shifting toward the Democrats. Yet in all four states, the Republican governors who signed those laws are cruising to re-election.
When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Center, strategists in both parties said it would harm Republicans in the midterm elections. A pro-choice backlash would rescue Democrats from what had been shaping up to be a punishing set of defeats. Democrats are devoting more of their ads to abortion than to any other subject.