A new CNN poll finds attitudes toward abortion haven’t changed much since the leak of the opinion that, if it holds, would strike down Roe v. Wade. The poll also found that enthusiasm to vote has increased slightly but equally on both sides, and if anything, the generic Republican edge over Democrats increased slightly going into the midterms.
There will be no stampede of women to the polls, clamoring for the right to kill their babies.
Related: No, Dobbs v. Jackson Isn’t Going to Hand the Midterms to Democrats
There is broad support for keeping abortion legal in some circumstances — rape and incest — and a majority of voters don’t want to see Roe rescinded entirely. But this has always been so — more proof the outrage is confined to the extreme left.
More Americans are “angry” at the decision (36%) compared to those who are “happy” about it (17%). Younger Americans are more apt to be angry (47%) but are far less likely to vote in the midterms. Just 9% of them are extremely enthusiastic about voting this fall vs. 31% of older voters.
More broadly, 37% of Americans strongly support Congress establishing a nationwide right to abortion, more than the 28% who strongly oppose such an action. Half (51%) say that if Roe falls, they want their state to become a safe haven for women seeking abortion, compared with 20% who say the procedure should be banned completely in their state. And the share of Americans who say their views on abortion align more with Democrats than Republicans rose 7 points between the two polls (44% with Democrats, 32% with Republicans in the later poll vs. 37% Democrats, 31% Republicans in the earlier one).
A national right to abortion would never get through the Senate. The left knows this, which is why they’re apoplectic about losing in the Supreme Court. All the talk we’ve heard about “saving democracy” from evil Republicans rings a little hollow when the left is threatening to blow up the country because they now must take the issue of abortion on demand to the people in several states.
Oh, dear. Democracy is soooo hard (sniffle, sniffle).
Republicans hold a narrow edge over Democrats on the generic ballot test, 49% to 42% among registered voters, a slight improvement for Republicans compared with the poll conducted immediately before the ruling. On the economy — the issue most likely to be a driving factor for voters this fall — nearly half of adults (46%) in the latest poll say the Republican Party’s positions are more aligned with their own, compared with 31% for the Democratic Party. About three-quarters say that which party controls Congress makes a real difference — a figure that did not shift between the two polls — with more Republicans saying so than Democrats (88% vs. 78%).
From top to bottom, across the board, there is nothing in this poll to suggest a surge in support for Democrats as a result of anger over this decision. The hysteria we’re seeing now feeds upon itself and grows with each day, bringing new warnings of disaster from commentators trying to one-up each other in predicting Armageddon.
This sort of rhetorical scorched earth is red meat to the left. It plays into their heroic self-image of suffering for the cause. But the reality is simple: single-issue voters don’t exist anymore, and I can guarantee that more Americans are going to walk into the voting booth in November angrier about prices than they are about abortion rights.
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