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Desperate Democrats Lean into Abortion Rage for Midterms Boost

Inconvenient truths that prevent Democrats from turning back the red wave.

Faced with the prospect of a pummeling at the polls in November, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), et al, might think they have been thrown a lifeline by the five conservative Justices on the Supreme Court – and Chief Justice John Roberts – who threw out the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision when they ruled in favor of the Mississippi Department of Public Health in a landmark abortion case. In happier and more prosperous times, that optimism might be reasonable, but will it pay off for Democrats to lean into this abortion rage for a midterms boost? It appears likely that it will not.

[substack align=”right”]If the American economy was booming and regular folks had little else with which to concern themselves, the striking down of federal protections for abortion could have been the catalyst that drove Democrat voters to the polling booths in swarms. However, there are no public opinion surveys that show abortion is at, or even close to, the top of the list of issues that Americans want their elected officials to address.

Incentive for Conservative Voters?

For Democrats in Congress, November is all about turnout among their base – after all, it is not likely that too many Republican voters will be switching sides any time soon and the abortion issue, of all things, is not going to send people who normally vote Republican rushing into the loving embrace of the Democratic Party. On the contrary, abortion opponents might well consider it imperative that they prevent Democrats from retaining control on Capitol Hill, for a Democrat majority in the 118th Congress would surely jam through legislation that guarantees the availability of abortion services in all 50 states. In such an eventuality, there is little doubt Democrats would in fact greatly expand abortion access and ensure it is provided with very few restrictions, if any.

And so, the majority party, if it has hope at all of retaining its majority, will need to weaponize the abortion issue to the fullest extent possible – but as a means of driving its own voters to the polls. This process has already begun. No sooner had the Supreme Court released its momentous opinion than fundraising emails signed “Nancy” began piling up in inboxes across the country.

In June 24 remarks delivered from the White House, Mr. Biden wasted no time in binding the abortion issue to the upcoming midterm elections. “Let me be very clear and unambiguous,” he said. “The only way we can secure a woman’s right to choose and the balance that existed is for Congress to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade as federal law.” True to his word, Biden was clear and unambiguous, for a change, as he continued with what became a stump speech for congressional Democrats:

“This fall, we must elect more senators and representatives who will codify a woman’s right to choose into federal law once again, elect more state leaders to protect this right at the local level. We need to restore the protections of Roe as law of the land. We need to elect officials who will do that.

“This fall, Roe is on the ballot. Personal freedoms are on the ballot. The right to privacy, liberty, equality, they’re all on the ballot.”

Listening to that last part, conservatives could be forgiven for quietly quipping, now say the same thing in reference to the Second Amendment.

Hard Times and Federalism: The Stumbling Blocks

Democrats have two problems to contend with, though, when it comes to using so-called abortion rights to pull off a surprise victory in November. For the most part, Americans who favor legal abortion already vote Democrat and live mainly in blue states. That is by no means an absolute statement, of course. Some Republican voters favor the idea that a woman should be able to get an abortion, but is this Supreme Court ruling going to be the one thing that prompts them to switch parties in the Fall? That is highly unlikely. As for Democrat voters living in Republican-controlled states who would identify themselves as “pro-choice,” is the abortion question going to override every other concern they have in 2022 America? Again, unlikely, in most cases.

New banner Perpective 1What of the residents of pro-abortion blue states? It should be remembered that the Supreme Court’s decision will not result – nor was it intended to – in a nationwide ban on abortion. The people in those states will not be affected by the Court’s opinion. In fact, the governors and Democrat legislators in several of these states have vowed, in the wake of the demise of Roe v. Wade, to enhance, expand, and further protect abortion services. Will the people of New Jersey or Michigan feel so strongly the urge to ensure that women in Mississippi and Alabama get access to abortion that they will suddenly flock to the polls and vote Democrat, putting aside their worries about the ever-increasing prices of gas and groceries, surging crime-rates, and a looming, job-killing recession?

How many Democrats will get re-elected on the abortion issue? Perhaps a few who represent progressive strongholds may receive a boost at the polls because of the Supreme Court ruling, but if they represent deep blue districts, they were unlikely to lose their seats to Republican challengers, anyway.

Vulnerable Democrats, in seats that Republicans could well flip in November, must hope, then, that enough voters will be willing to give Mr. Biden and his party a pass on all of the disastrous policies of the past two years and cast a vote based exclusively on a desire to have abortion access written into federal law. That’s quite a leap of faith, for most of them.

Speaker Pelosi and her cohorts may indeed have placed a bad bet, then. One that could be made even worse if the violent tendencies of pro-abortion activists reach a dangerous level. Of all the single-issue voters out there, it is safe to say that, for most of them, abortion is not that single issue. Some Republicans might have put their seats in Congress at risk by going along with the Democrats’ gun control agenda, but none of them are at risk over the abortion divide – and those Republican candidates who are challenging incumbent Democrats on law and order, immigration, or economy platforms are unlikely to see victory snatched away by media and celebrity histrionics over abortion. The red wave, however large or small it may be, continues unabated toward American shores.

Read More From Graham J Noble

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