When three red states finalized severe restrictions on abortion over consecutive days last week, they highlighted the GOP’s rising militancy on the issue — and the political and legal calculations underpinning it. …
All of this is coming even as a January CNN survey conducted by SSRS found that more than two-thirds of Americans oppose the court overturning Roe v. Wade. Abortion restrictions routinely draw broader support in red states, but even in them, a 2018 state-level analysis by the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute shared with CNN found that in most cases, a majority of residents do not want to completely ban abortion — despite the fact that several states have passed “trigger” bans to do so if the Supreme Court allows it.
Against that backdrop, the severe abortion restrictions rapidly proliferating in red states represent a bet from the Republicans controlling them that they can satisfy the demands of their most ardent base supporters without facing any consequences among more centrist voters in their coalition who are uneasy, or outright opposed, to the new limits. CONTINUED
Ronald Brownstein, CNN
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