Student Opinion – Democratic candidates talk about Codifying Roe v. Wade, and it’s not working
The midterm elections will be here before you know it, and if you go by recent swings in polling, Democrats are in serious trouble. Several key swing states such as Arizona and Georgia that were believed to be safe for Democrats just months ago are now seen as toss-ups that the Republican Party will sweep. In a desperate attempt to reverse these trends, Democrats have decided to hedge their bets by doubling down on abortion.
Leftist politicians, including President Joe Biden, have continued to make the same promise to the American people: “If you elect us and keep us in power, we will codify Roe v. Wade.” This talking point is present everywhere you look, with Democratic candidates like John Fetterman and Charlie Crist using Roe as their metric for restrictions in debates. No matter how many times they repeat this line, however, the polls show that it is not working.
Multiple polls have shown time and time again that abortion is not among the top issues for voters in this election. The top issues voters care about are inflation, the economy and, in many key swing states, crime. While it may seem somewhat discouraging to pro-life individuals such as myself that more people don’t care about the unborn, the silver lining of this is that Republicans, the party of life, are leading on all of these top issues.
Despite the plea of Democratic candidates to “look at these scary Republicans who are trying to strip women’s rights away,” the American people are choosing to focus on their pocket books. To quote a Clinton-era Democratic strategist, “It’s the economy, stupid.” Democrats are just not getting this message and instead are digging in on abortion, and it’s just not working.
One of the places this has been best seen is in the New York governor’s race between incumbent Democrat Kathy Hochul and Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin. While Zeldin has been pushing the issue of crime very successfully, Hochul has been pouring money nonstop into ads attacking Zeldin’s stance on abortion. During a debate between the two, the governor said to Zeldin, “I don’t know why that (crime) is so important to you.”
The governor of New York, a state where crime has increased by 30% over the last year, is so out of touch with her own constituents that she doesn’t know why crime is so important. This lack of awareness is reflected in the polls in New York, with the latest polls indicating that Hochul only has a six-point lead on Zeldin, a stark drop from the 17-point lead just a month ago and the 24-point lead she held in June. While it remains doubtful that the GOP will flip the state, I would not be surprised if Zeldin continues to give Hochul a run for her money.
Just a month ago, the midterms looked like a red splash rather than a red wave, but in just a few short weeks, the polling has shifted so much it appears the massive tsunami expected in the spring could be plausible after all.
As long as Republicans continue to hammer the Biden administration on its handling of the economy while subsequently tying Democratic candidates to those positions, the GOP has this election in the bag. As we have seen time and time again, the Democrats have no answers other than to pivot to abortion, but it’s not going to work for them.
Hughes is an opinion writer for the Liberty Champion. Follow him on Twitter