A few weeks ago, when presumed Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump announced his non-position on abortion (non-position because he essentially declared he
would leave it as it is under the Dodd decision and allow the individual states to haggle over “bans” and limitations), I suggested one of the reasons Trump took the stance was because he wanted to take the issue off the table and therefore not be forced to talk about it everywhere he went.
I was basically correct in the surmising, but, as the weeks go by in the 2024 general election presidential race, it’s become clearer and clearer that the abortion matter won’t go away. At all. Why? Because the voters themselves still want to talk about it, particularly the younger age groups. Wishing the subject would magically vanish isn’t going to produce the result.
Multiple surveys this year have shown Trump much more competitive with incumbent Democrat president senile Joe Biden in this demographic category, and there’s little doubt this is one class where Trump would love to make inroads when the votes are counted in November. How to do it? In a fascinating post titled “What’s most important to young voters”, Byron York reported at the Washington Examiner last week:
“…The Kennedy School Institute of Politics has released its biannual Harvard Youth Poll, and it shines light on the priorities of voters aged 18-29 in the 2024 presidential election…
“The big picture of the poll is that young voters say inflation is more important than anything else in this election — except abortion. For example, the young voters say inflation is more important than climate change, 61% to 38%. Inflation is more important than healthcare, 60% to 39%. Inflation is more important than gun violence, 67% to 32%. All sorts of other issues, too — you name it, and inflation is more important than everything except abortion. (By the way, the pollsters called abortion ‘women’s reproductive rights,’ and that can skew results, too.)
“The poll offers a pretty clear road map to, say, a Democratic president with low approval ratings and a lot of liabilities who still wants to win young voters. Make the race, to the extent you can, about abortion. It’s more important than anything for a Democratic presidential candidate, especially since abortion as an issue hurts Republicans and inflation as an issue hurts Democrats. Why waste your time talking up the economy when so many people just don’t believe it — their experience says otherwise — when you can bash Republicans about abortion?”
That’s right. Expect every other word emanating from the mouths of senile Joe Biden and cackling Kamala Harris to sound like “abortion” and be prepared for the masses of testimonials and propaganda outfits featuring every sob story or abuse scenario plausible. Democrats will make it so that every woman should desire an abortion – and they’re just the political artists who would guarantee that it be free-of-charge and available, practically in-home (the abortion pill, of course).
Republicans want to talk about possible compromises, but Democrats don’t. Leftists want it all or none and the more they scare unmarried single females, the better. In their world, “shouting” abortions is a positive thing.
Beyond the campaign shenanigans, why is abortion so important to young voters? It seems obvious that their worries are fanned by a virtual obsession from the establishment media on the topic, the leftist-inspired journos terrified that Trump and the mean Republicans are hell-bent on depriving young, potential child-bearing humans (no transgender crapola here) of a “right” that they swear they’re entitled to.
Here’s thinking that the Roe v. Wade court had no inkling of what they were getting into by fashioning a privacy right in the “penumbras” of the Constitution back then, but once the radical femes became convinced that they were entitled to a doctor holding a vacuum hose sucking out the contents of their uteruses upon their own demand, they weren’t about to give the “right” up easily.
Time, values and mores have changed drastically since those years, including ultrasound tests and various other technological improvements which prove that that “thing” growing inside a female’s womb is a baby – but it hasn’t made an iota of difference to those whose proverbial hill to die on was maintaining the ability to kill the child before it took its first full breath (and sometimes afterwards).
It can’t be that the youths are overly worried about the pro-life people advocating for a complete ban on abortion. Even many of the most ardent of those pushing for a complete outlawing of the procedure concede that the three “exceptions” (cases of rape, incest or life of mother) should remain in place. There are those who insist that all life deserves protection, and I don’t begrudge them their positions.
But this isn’t the majority position, even among the abortion foes.
In saying this, it’s clear as day that the abortion issue has staying power, even more so that the flavor-of-the-moment leftist causes of present and recent past, namely “Black Lives Matter”, defunding the police, “climate change”, re-writing history (taking down statues and altering textbooks to reflect more current “woke” thinking) and, the anti-Israel/pro-Palestinian movement which is merely intended to get senile Joe Biden to abandon his liberal Jewish allies (those who are still with him, that is).
George Floyd may be resting in his golden casket but nobody’s talking about the fentanyl-felled cretin anymore, this “cause” having been supplanted in importance by waves of thugs preying on helpless victims in inner cities across the country. Leftist attention spans only last so long, after all, and various interest groups’ mission to portray Floyd as an innocent victim have gone by the wayside.
Yet abortion persists. I can’t tell you the number of conversations I’ve had with women in the past x number of years who’ve moved away from the Democrats in virtually every way but remain troubled over abortion. These aren’t gals out for a “wild time” in college, either – they’re women of my age group, many of whom are grandmothers and well beyond the age of having children.
So, if this is the way things are today, what was Trump supposed to do with the abortion issue?
First off, he could’ve handled it the way he did, which was to “punt” the subject back to the states courtesy of the Supreme Court which removed federal protection for abortion so that local populations could decide on their own. This is similar to allowing more connected minds to come to a conclusion on the death penalty or pornography or adult dance clubs, etc., where there is no set national standard while also maintaining his own beliefs and promise to advocate using the bully pulpit.
Or two, Trump could’ve made a heavy play to the pro-life movement by plugging for a set “ban” which he would push in Congress if and when he was elected to the White House again. Trump could have easily done this, but would it have won him more votes or possibly enraged the pro-life forces even further by failing to mention a clear enough standard to begin with?
This is one of those policy areas where there is no clean solution. Unlike the border, for example, where Trump can announce a program of completely sealing the U.S./Mexico line and wholesale deportations of all human beings in the United States illegally, the Republican candidate can’t simply declare that abortion will disappear under his reign and no one will ever talk about it again.
Therefore, Trump can use the information York wrote on young voters’ attitudes and try to fashion a position which would be acceptable to the lowest common denominator – a.k.a., “let the states decide” – and move on to talking about senile Joe Biden’s awful economics policies that created the booming inflation that’s destroying their generation’s ability to buy houses or save for “stuff” that they enjoy.
Price smart phones above the ability of the average person to afford and you’d have something, wouldn’t you?
Trump should be buoyed by the fact the youth of today is at least aware to the threat runaway inflation poses to them and simultaneously be heartened that young voters aren’t gullible enough to value farces like “climate change” above measures to keep prices from skyrocketing. Inflation is universal – it affects everyone. Abortion, on the other hand, isn’t something that is visible every time you leave the house.
Here’s also thinking that there’s no reaching the single-issue pro-abortion voter since they’ve already made up their minds, aided greatly by viewing copious amounts of “The View” and making themselves susceptible to Facebook posts about “women’s rights” and the need to support teachers’ unions and Planned Parenthood. For everyone else, including those with opened minds who weigh the totality of political positions, Trump’s MAGA message can hit home.
This isn’t to say that Trump should pander to the youth age group or offer them something he believes will win them over. It wouldn’t work and could just drive others away.
Young voters’ attitudes regarding inflation and abortion are but two pieces of the puzzle for finding a winning message in this year’s presidential race. Trump chose a more hands-off approach while the Biden team prefers to pound the issue while hoping it gets people sufficiently ticked off to surrender their common sense. Either way, expect to hear a lot about abortion this year.
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2024 presidential election