From The New Republic’s headline, you’d think chills would be sent down the spines of Republicans as their worries have heightened since August regarding their 2022 midterm chances. There’s a secret abortion army that’s coming to wreck the GOP. The Democrats are heavily betting that Americans will care more about abortion than the high inflation that’s torching home budgets and the economic recession that’s engulfed the nation, which the Biden administration points to as an indication that they’re leading the greatest economic revival in history. The recent consumer price index report sent the stock market tumbling to the tune of $1.5 trillion being wiped off the books. With no legislative record to run on since their August spending bill, which will exacerbate the inflation crisis, was passed too late this cycle—all Democrats have left is abortion.
The problem is that it’s an issue ranked highly in areas where Democrats already dominate. The increase in importance with voters in these areas is negligible regarding election outcomes. The New Republic’s piece about abortion voters commits the sin both sides make regarding voter registration drives. There has been an uptick in registration numbers in states like Florida, Ohio, and Texas. Still, the critical factor that’s glossed over is that not everyone who registers shows up on Election Day. It’s why get-out-the-vote efforts might be more significant than adding a bunch of voters to the rolls weeks or even months away from casting ballots. Life happens, and people will forget to vote.
The piece oozes Acela Corridor bias, coupled with a gross misreading of the recent Kansas abortion vote we’ve covered here. A pro-life amendment to their state constitution was defeated, which the Left sees as a harbinger of the blowback against the GOP’s pro-life agenda while willingly ignoring that Kansas has parental consent laws, zero public or federal funding for abortion, and a 22-week ban. These are restrictions hardly seen as reasonable by liberals. The worst is the inclusion of the 12-year-old Ohio girl who was raped by her mother’s boyfriend and forced to seek an abortion in Indiana. This liberal narrative quickly fell apart because the principal actors were illegal aliens, spotlighting the Democrats’ open border agenda (via TNR):
Is an unseen army of women and young voters about to rescue the Democrats? It’s risky to predict outcomes, but it sure looks like the troops are in formation.
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Over the weekend, the Houston Chronicle reported that registration is “surging” in Texas among young voters. “It’s not that we’re not seeing a surge from women but that in Texas, we’re somewhat uniquely also seeing a surge from men, particularly younger, more progressive men, who are matching the surge from women,” said Tom Bonier, the CEO of TargetSmart, which works with Democratic candidates.
I could go on. The biggest surge of all was in Kansas, and we saw the results of that: a massive win for abortion rights advocates as voters rejected a referendum that would have allowed the state legislature to tighten abortion laws. Female registrations have even surged in Idaho, where they’re less likely to make a difference given how deep red the state is. On the other hand, it’s a small state, so not many votes are needed to flip a statewide result.
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Republicans are responding in their time-honored fashion: by lying. They know that most of their positions are unpopular, certainly including their extremist anti-abortion stance, so they’re trying to sound “reasonable” while painting Democratic opponents as extremists.
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What does all this mean? Well, nobody wants to speak too confidently about the Democrats’ chances in November. We all know that the incumbent party tends to lose 25 or so seats in a first-term midterm election. And there’s still inflation to worry about, though in recent weeks it’s seemed to be receding, with gas prices well down from their midsummer highs. And there’s MAGA rage, which only seems to intensify as Donald Trump looks guiltier and guiltier.
But here’s what could happen: The voter rolls in swing states could swell by, oh, 5 percent, let’s say, and that increase would consist almost entirely of voters pissed off by Dobbs. In Ohio, 5 percent would equal about 388,000 new voters. In Pennsylvania, it would mean 436,000. In Florida, 714,000. Almost all of them pro-choice. And since they bothered to register—a lot of them for the first time, presumably—it seems likely that they’ll bother to vote.
In addition, your typical congressional district has roughly 400,000 to 450,000 registered voters.
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Republicans used to call themselves the party of normal Americans. They still pretend to be so. But they are not. They are the party of extremist violence. They are the party of authoritarianism. They are the party of the Big Lie. And they are the party of forcing a 12-year-old girl who was raped to deliver that baby and the party of taking away a core right that women have had for a half-century. They will pay a price for this. The army of real normal Americans is coming for them.
“Normal Americans” are coming for the GOP. It seems someone needs to remind this publication that “normal Americans” agree with the Republican agenda on abortion, which bars sex-selective and late-term abortions. The American voter is against allocating taxpayer funds for this procedure. They’re also for 20-week bans, of which 60 percent of women agree, while a smaller majority supports heartbeat bills prohibiting abortion after six weeks. Democrats want abortion on demand, footed by taxpayers, and legal up until the moment of birth. It’s been codified law in New York for years, to all our horror. Also, who says that all these women will vote straight pro-abortion? To bank on voters selecting abortion over their degraded economic condition is condescension and a profound detachment from reality that can only come from liberals.