On Friday, Joe Biden signaled that he believes that abortion can save the Democratic Party from getting shellacked in the upcoming midterm election. According to him, the Supreme Court and Republicans underestimated the “power of American women” and predicted that women will turn out in “record numbers” for the midterm elections coming in November to “reclaim the rights” taken from them. Biden specifically informed his base that he needs “two additional pro-choice senators and a pro-choice House to codify Roe as federal law.”
“Your vote can make that a reality,” Biden insisted. “I know it’s frustrating, and it made a lot of people very angry, but the truth is — and it’s not just me saying it, it’s what the court said, when you read the decision — the court had made clear it will not protect the rights of women. Period.”
But, like everything else Biden has done to change the trajectory of the 2022 midterms, it’s clear that abortion isn’t going to get the job done. According to the latest Associated Press/NORC poll, voters are far more concerned about economic issues than abortion.
“Concerns about inflation and personal finances have surged while COVID has evaporated as a top issue for Americans, a new poll shows, marking an upheaval in priorities just months before critical midterm elections,” the Associated Press reports. “Forty percent of U.S. adults specifically name inflation in an open-ended question as one of up to five priorities for the government to work on in the next year.”
That’s up significantly since December when only 14% of voters named inflation as a top issue. “Seventy-seven percent mention the economy in any way, up from 68% in December,” the AP also noted.
“Now, too, Americans increasingly call their personal finances a major issue: 44% mention it, up from 24% in December and 12% the year before,” the report continues. “That includes more mentioning gas or energy prices (33% now vs. 10% in December) and food costs (9% vs. less than 1%).”
The AP concedes that “these shifts may be advantageous to Republicans” but attempts to give Democrats a glimmer of hope by pointing out that abortion has increased as a priority from 8% in December to 22% in the new poll — but this is still far behind economic issues and still ranks among the bottom of voters’ concerns.
Economic concerns also saw a far more significant increase than abortion over the December poll, with personal finances increasing 20 points and inflation increasing 26 points. Abortion only increased 14 points between the two polls.
While there is no doubt that the Dobbs decision has changed the political landscape, its impact isn’t as strong as Democrats need it to be in order to save them in November. It’s not even clear whether that shift occurred only in pro-abortion voters or also among pro-life voters. Other polls have indicated that the Dobbs decision motivated both pro-abortion and pro-life voters about the same. Regardless, it’s also likely that the abortion issue will fade over the next few months.
