When will Republicans learn that when they give voters a choice, even in red states, they will vote for Choice.
Republicans love this lie that most Americans are against abortion. While most people are personally against having an abortion, most Americans are in favor of abortion being legal.
A poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research conducted last June, one year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe, found that 73 percent of Americans were in favor of abortion being legal. It’s not surprising that 88 percent of Democrats are in favor of it remaining legal, but what might surprise GOP leaders is that 56 percent of Republicans are in favor or legal abortion. Even better, 58 percent of voters in states with the most restrictive abortion laws are in favor of legal abortion.
And just in case you need a second opinion, a Gallup poll, also from last June, found that 69 percent of Americans are in favor of legal abortion in the first three months of pregnancy.
Republicans are ignoring these polls and getting smacked in the face for it. Last August, Kansas voters rejected removed the right to an abortion from the state’s constitution. They didn’t just reject an abortion ban, they resoundingly rejected it 59 to 41 percent. And Republicans did in Kansas was put it on a ballot in August instead of November, when more people are likely to vote.
They were hoping that only voters truly motivated by the abortion issue would turn out, as in only anti-choice voters and other assorted religious zealots.
It’s true that in the past, anti-choice voters were more motivated by the issue than liberal and independent voters, but the SCOTUS ruling may have changed that. Voter turnout to save abortion in Kansas was huge.
Republicans in Ohio tried the same trick this week, scheduling a vote in August. Abortion wasn’t specifically listed on the ballot, but the measure was intended to make it much more difficult to enshrine abortion in the state constitution. Tuesday’s vote was to make it harder for voters to add amendments to the constitution, requiring 60 percent approval rather than 50 percent plus one.
A few months ago, Republicans in the legislature, where they have a supermajority, voted for a law eliminating most August special elections because of low turnout and high costs. Then they changed their minds and tried the August special election trick on abortion, thinking like Kansas Republicans, that only anti-choice goons would show up to vote. Wrong again. The turnout was five times higher than in a special election from August 2022, and the measure was defeated 57 to 43 percent. Again, an abortion ban was overwhelmingly rejected. And again, rejected in a red state.
You would think Kansas and Ohio Republicans would follow the lead of Republicans in other states, make it much harder for Democrats and Independents to vote, THEN put the abortion issue on a ballot. Doh!
The truth is, they should stop trying to ban abortion because most Americans are in favor of it remaining legal. I think Republicans will find this out again in November 2024. Every single Republican presidential candidate is anti-choice. After the GOP selects a nominee, we’ll be sure to let America know that person will work to ban abortion nationally.
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