{"id":9077,"date":"2023-11-09T06:54:39","date_gmt":"2023-11-09T06:54:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lendingsensibly.com\/politics\/republicans-flail-on-abortion-as-democrats-embrace-a-top-2024-issue\/"},"modified":"2023-11-09T06:54:40","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T06:54:40","slug":"republicans-flail-on-abortion-as-democrats-embrace-a-top-2024-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lendingsensibly.com\/?p=9077","title":{"rendered":"Republicans flail on abortion as Democrats embrace a top 2024 issue"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\n Republicans admit abortion rights are a huge challenge for them in 2024 but judging by their presidential debate Wednesday, they\u2019re nowhere near defusing an issue that has cost them votes ever since Roe v. Wade was overturned last year.\n <\/p>\n

\n A day after Democrats leveraged reproductive rights to rack up big election wins in Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky, Republican hopefuls attempted an impossible balancing act.\u00a0<\/em>They sought to satisfy anti-abortion rights base voters for whom the movement to overturn Roe was an article of faith. But they also tried to avoid alienating suburban moderates and female voters critical to deciding the destiny of the White House and Congress next year.\n <\/p>\n

\n The five candidates on stage for NBC\u2019s debate in Miami came up with at least five different positions about the extent to which abortion should be allowed and over whether the federal government or the states should adjudicate the issue. The mess of approaches underscored how Republicans \u2013 who for years used the stark clarity of the anti-abortion drive to galvanize their voters \u2013 now lack a single compelling position to combat political messaging from Democrats and pro-abortion rights groups.\n <\/p>\n

\n Candidates struggle for coherence on a critical issue
\n<\/h2>\n

\n Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who has warned long before Wednesday that the GOP is failing to communicate on abortion outside their base, said that although she is strongly against the procedure, Republicans have to recognize there is no majority in the Senate for passing a national ban. \u201cNo Republican president can ban abortions,\u201d Haley said, repeating a consistent position perhaps designed to avoid angering women and independent voters in a broader general electorate. \u201cAs much as I am pro-life, I don\u2019t judge anyone for being pro-choice,\u201d Haley said. She called for a search for \u201cconsensus\u201d on the issue though didn\u2019t say how it might be reached.\n <\/p>\n

\n Haley\u2019s main rival to be the alternative to former President Donald Trump in the GOP race, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, signed his state\u2019s six-week abortion ban earlier this year. If he made it to the general election, the move could drive away moderate voters. Apparently seeking to ease such vulnerabilities, he recognized that some states might take a different position than Florida. He also suggested conservatives start winning ballot initiatives, which is easier said than done. \u201cYou have got to do a better job on these referenda. I think of all the stuff that\u2019s happened on the pro-life cause, they\u2019ve been caught flat-footed on these referenda and they\u2019ve been losing the referenda.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott said that as president he would \u201chave\u201d a 15-week national abortion ban, though gave no details on how he\u2019d get it passed in Congress. Biotech executive Vivek Ramaswamy, meanwhile, said it was time for a \u201cnew generation\u201d to lead the country to a better place on abortion, though aside from advocating more success in ballot measures, he failed to say how he would get there. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie argued that since the Supreme Court\u2019s Dobbs decision last year was rooted in returning the issue to the states, that\u2019s where it should be decided. \u201cI trust the people of this country, state-by-state, to make the call for themselves,\u201d Christie said.\n <\/p>\n

\n The Republican candidate who could be most exposed by the abortion issue was not on stage. Trump, the GOP\u2019s runaway front-runner, is boycotting the debates since he sees no political advantage in sparring with his distant challengers. Trump steered clear of the issue, beyond generally touting the conservative Supreme Court majority, at his Florida rally Wednesday evening.\n <\/p>\n

\n While Trump\u2019s abortion position is less hardline than some of his GOP rivals, he\u2019s insulated politically in the primary since he built that Supreme Court majority that accomplished a generational goal of anti-abortion campaigners.\n <\/p>\n

\n But the former president\u2019s heavy-handed efforts to parse the abortion issue recently show he understands the danger abortion politics could pose in a general election.\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump is simultaneously seeking to claim credit for the court throwing out Roe v. Wade after half a century and to avoid any backlash from that judicial earthquake. He said in an interview with NBC\u2019s \u201cMeet the Press\u201d in September, \u201cI did something that nobody thought was possible and Roe v. Wade was terminated and put back to the states.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n But Trump repeatedly prevaricated when asked whether he would sign any law that, for instance, banned abortion after 15 weeks \u2013 a similar cut-off to one with exceptions backed by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin in a proposal with exceptions that was effectively rejected when Democrats held control of the state Senate and flipped the House on Tuesday.\n <\/p>\n

\n The ex-president\u2019s answers degenerated into incoherence when he was put on the spot. \u201cWhat\u2019s going to happen is you\u2019re going to come up with a number of weeks or months. You\u2019re going to come up with a number that\u2019s going to make people happy,\u201d he told NBC. Betraying his lack of a plan on the issue and an\u00a0absence of deep thinking, Trump added: \u201cSomething will happen with the number of weeks, the amount of time, after which you can\u2019t do it. \u2026 You will win on this issue when you come up with the right number of weeks.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Amazingly, after such waffling, Trump complained: \u201cI think the Republicans speak very inarticulately about this subject.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n As well as their wins in Virginia, Democrats and abortion rights campaigners were celebrating after voters in Ohio, now a reliable red state in presidential elections, approved an amendment to the state constitution enshrining the right to an abortion. And in deeply conservative Kentucky, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear secured a second term after a campaign in which he slammed his opponent, Republican Daniel Cameron, for opposing exceptions to the state\u2019s abortion ban.\n <\/p>\n

\n Top Democratic leaders rushed to capitalize on Tuesday\u2019s victories and create momentum for Biden, after a rough set of polls, by putting abortion rights at the center of the 2024 campaign.\n <\/p>\n

\n Vice President Kamala Harris initiated a rare media opportunity with reporters outside the West Wing. Abortion seems likely to be one of her signature issues on the campaign trail. \u201c <\/em>Voters said, \u2018Look, the government should not be telling a woman what to do with her body,\u2019\u201d Harris said. \u201cI think voters have been clear, regardless of whether they\u2019re in a so-called red or blue state, that one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree that government should not be telling a woman what to do with her body.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Biden\u2019s campaign issued a statement, slamming Trump for his part in overturning Roe v. Wade and associating him with abortion bans adopted by deeply conservative states.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cVoters deserve to hear Donald Trump\u2019s own words,\u201d said Biden campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa. \u201cAs he\u2019s said many times, no one did more to pave the way for abortion bans than Trump, and he was proud and honored to do it. Republicans across the country are tied to Trump\u2019s losing MAGA agenda of ripping away Americans\u2019 fundamental freedoms and voters will hold Donald Trump and his MAGA buddies accountable next November.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Democrats countrywide are already targeting GOP candidates lower down the ballot. The Montana Democratic Party, for instance, criticized Tim Sheehy, a Republican running to unseat Democratic Sen. Jon Tester, and GOP Rep. Matt Rosendale, who is also considering a bid, warning that their anti-abortion rights positions will \u201chaunt them on the campaign trail.\u201d\u00a0The campaign of Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown \u2013 another vulnerable senator next year \u2013 released a video highlighting his GOP opponents\u2019 anti-abortion rights positions.\n <\/p>\n

\n As they digested a second straight year of downbeat election results, some top Republicans admitted Wednesday that they need a more nuanced take on abortion. With Democrats seeking to add abortion measures to the ballot in swing states next year, the GOP is starting to look for ways to combat Democratic victories \u2013 or at least to try to find a way to win on such referenda. \u201cYou have to accept that we have some real public opinion and persuasion work to do,\u201d Ohio GOP Sen. JD Vance told CNN. \u201cIf you can\u2019t admit that, I don\u2019t think you\u2019re being serious about the issue.\u201d Unlike many Republicans, who want to avoid taking hard positions on an issue the Supreme Court allowed them to leave to the states, Vance called for a national GOP position. He is advocating a new law imposing a 15-week ban on abortion with exceptions.\n <\/p>\n

\n South Dakota Sen. John Thune, a member of the GOP leadership, meanwhile predicted Democrats will make abortion central to 2024 and that the GOP needs to be ready. \u201cFor sure it\u2019s going to be an issue.\u00a0Democrats are going to insist that it is.\u00a0And I think Republican candidates are going to have to have an answer and explanation for why they believe what they do,\u201d Thune said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Utah Sen. Mitt Romney told CNN\u2019s Manu Raju that Republican candidates should focus more closely on issues like the cost of living. \u201cWhen we\u2019re talking about some social issues, they can become highly divisive and we end up not doing as well as we could have,\u201d said the senator, who\u2019s not seeking reelection.\n <\/p>\n

\n Polls have repeatedly shown that candidates are looking closely at candidates and their positions on abortion. In a CNN\/SSRS poll conducted in August, for instance, 64% of US adults said they disapproved of last year\u2019s Supreme Court decision that women don\u2019t have a constitutional right to abortion.\u00a0Just 16% of people polled didn\u2019t see abortion as a major issue, a record low in CNN polling dating back to 1996.\n <\/p>\n

\n Those eagle-eyed voters are not seeing much yet from Republicans that suggests they will force Democrats to cede the advantage on the issue next year.\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Republicans admit abortion rights are a huge challenge for them in 2024 but judging by their presidential debate Wednesday, they\u2019re nowhere near defusing an issue that has cost them votes ever since Roe v. Wade was overturned last year. A day after Democrats leveraged reproductive rights to rack up big election wins in Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky, Republican hopefuls attempted an impossible balancing act.\u00a0They sought to satisfy anti-abortion rights base voters for whom the movement to overturn Roe was an article of faith. But they also tried to avoid alienating suburban moderates and female voters critical to deciding the destiny<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9078,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nRepublicans flail on abortion as Democrats embrace a top 2024 issue | LendingSensibly<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Republicans admit abortion rights are a huge challenge for them in 2024 but judging by their presidential debate Wednesday, they\u2019re nowhere near defusing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/lendingsensibly.com\/?p=9077\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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