Right now, polls suggest that Donald Trump is on the verge of winning the presidential election in November. Of course, it’s only April, and there is still plenty of time for things to happen. That said, with the economy the way it is and the Israel-Hamas war, it’s hard to see how things are going to get better for Joe Biden.
Of course, there’s one wildcard in this election that makes the outcome hard to predict: abortion.
Democrats are convinced that the abortion issue helped them fend off a red wave in the 2022 midterm elections, and there may be some truth to that. Naturally, it is an issue that they have been plotting to capitalize on in the 2024 election. Heck, Nancy Pelosi made it clear a year ago that Democrats were going to exploit the abortion issue to help Biden win the election.
Can it work? It’s possible. As PJ Media’s Athena Thorne noted earlier, Democrats and the liberal media seem to believe that the abortion measures that are likely to appear on the ballot in both Arizona and Florida in November could help Biden in those states. The only problem is that Trump has already said that he believes abortion is up to the states to decide. The best response to this that Biden could muster was to accuse Trump of lying.
But the real problem for the GOP is that they've repeatedly allowed the Democrats to define them on the abortion issue when Republicans need to go on offense.
Related: Democrats Overjoyed About Abortion on Arizona's Ballot in November Are Overlooking One Thing
Democrats are under the impression that everyone loves abortion, but that just isn't true. Abortion is a far more nuanced issue than Democrats make it out to be. People aren't just for or against abortion — polling data consistently reveals that most Americans don't want completely unrestricted abortion like the Democrats want.
For years, polls have shown that support for abortion diminishes significantly with each trimester, and that hasn't changed. This means that the Democrats' support of unrestricted abortion up until the moment of birth is a fringe position opposed by the majority of voters. This is what Republicans have yet to communicate effectively, thus allowing Democrats to paint them as extremists on the issue.
A classic example of this was the poorly worded abortion referendum in Kansas, which sounded like a blanket ban on abortion but failed disastrously in the summer of 2022. Did you know that Americans agree with the principles of the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade?
The GOP must strategize effectively on abortion, push hard against the Democrats' narrative, and present its positions clearly and intelligently. Republicans have to define themselves as more moderate and rational on this contentious issue by unveiling the true stances of their adversaries. They have to get their opponents on record on unrestricted abortion until the point of birth and whether they support minors getting abortions with parental consent, or taxpayer dollars paying for abortions. At the same time, Republicans can highlight their more mainstream positions as a contrast.
Republicans can make abortion a winning issue for them if they go on offense.
