There have been several polls showing voter indifference to the idea that repealing Roe v. Wade, as the Supreme Court is apparently ready to do, would impact the midterm elections.
A new USA Today/Suffolk University survey confirms that result and augments the Democrats’ dilemma by showing that even Americans opposed to overturning Roe won’t let it affect their midterm vote.
Democrats were hoping that an army of pro-choice women would march in lockstep to the polls and vote the Republicans out. The poll reveals that Americans who oppose striking down the landmark decision recognizing abortion rights say by a two-to-one margin — 59% to 29% — that the economy will be more important to their vote in November.
“When you take away a woman’s choice on reproduction or refuse to implement reasonable gun control, people’s lives are literally at stake,” said Lynda Tarantino, 54, an attorney from Buffalo, New York, who also participated in the survey. A Democrat, she said she cares about those values “much more than a few hundred dollars that I would have to spend because inflation is high.”
But the overall findings raise questions about whether a Supreme Court decision would rescue Democrats’ flagging prospects by energizing core supporters and drawing swing voters to their side.
Only 16% of those who oppose overturning Roe v. Wade say abortion is the most important issue determining their vote – precisely the same percentage as those who support overturning it.
Some abortion supporters say that once the reality of not being able to get an abortion sinks in, those numbers will change. But that’s not reality — it’s fantasy. First, except for a few states, abortion will still be legal. Second, in many blue states, access to abortion will remain unchanged. Third, for those who live in states that have banned abortion, “abortion tourism” will become popular. Companies are already lining up to invest. (Any talk of “travel bans” to prevent women from leaving a state to get an abortion is silly, stupid, unenforceable, and un-American.)
With the economy in shambles and prices going through the roof, who’s going to peg their vote to whether women have the ability to get an abortion?
“I’ve always been a states’ rights guy,” said Brian Schuster, 75, a retiree from Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey. “If a state wants to (take action on abortion), based on where they are in the country – the Midwest is a lot more conservative, as well as the South; the East and the West Coast are very liberal – that’s their right.”
Schuster, an independent, describes himself as being against abortion, but he adds that he supports exceptions to an abortion ban if, for instance, the pregnancy is the result of rape or if it threatens the life of the mother. “There are limits,” he said.
The abortion issue promises to be a wash. As many women will vote against Republicans for their anti-abortion stand as will vote for them.
And it’s extremely unlikely that any single House or Senate race will be decided by the abortion vote.
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