Democrats have gone into full-on freakout mode over the news that the Supreme Court may overturn Roe v. Wade and send the issue of abortion back to the states.
Democrats obviously think this is giving them something to run on the midterms. They even think this gives them an advantage.
Pollster Scott Rasmussen of Rasmussen Reports thinks it may have the opposite effect.
He writes at The Federalist:
Why Overturning Roe May Help Republicans A Lot More Than It Helps Democrats
If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, the conventional wisdom assumes that it will help Democrats. The only question is how much. That assumption is based on years of polling, showing that a solid majority of voters oppose overturning that 1973 ruling. My own polling shows the same results.
However, a deeper look at the data suggests that conventional wisdom may be wrong.
Let’s begin with the reality that any poll asking whether voters want to overturn Roe is meaningless. Why? Because voters don’t know what overturning that decision would mean.
Seventy-seven percent of voters mistakenly think it would make abortion illegal in the United States. Forty-one percent simply don’t know what it would mean (36 percent). Just 22 percent have some understanding of the issue. If people don’t understand what overturning Roe would mean, how can you possibly interpret polling data showing that people don’t want it overturned?…
With Roe in place, the abortion laws are set by judges. However, 65 percent of voters think abortion laws should be established by voters and their elected representatives. That’s exactly what will happen if Roe is overturned. Just 18 percent want to preserve the status quo.
If Democrats truly believed voters were with them on this issue, they would celebrate this triumph of democracy. Instead, they are outraged. Perhaps they recognize that overturning Roe will call their bluff and highlight the unpopularity of their policy desires.
Rasmussen makes some great points here.
The best one is that even voters who support abortion also support having some common-sense restrictions.
h/t American Lookout.
