The Republicans’ under-performance in the midterm elections has been described a lot of different ways — a failure, a rebuke, a mistake, etc. — but rarely as a price. That is, however, exactly what happened.
Republicans took a hit at the polls because that’s the price to pay for a major policy gain, the one they got with the Dobbs decision earlier this year eliminating the national right to an abortion. …
The idea that overturning Roe would fuel a backlash shouldn’t have been a surprise; polls had shown that to be an unpopular position for decades. Even many anti-abortion activists were simply advocating for greater restrictions on abortion, not the complete bans that some states have enacted or are working toward. …
No, it wasn’t congressional Republicans who overturned Roe, but voters don’t often distinguish between different branches or levels of government when assigning credit or blame, and casting votes in a midterm election is one of the few opportunities they have to register dissent. Without Roe on the books, the future of abortion access in states across the country was also a live issue, giving voters another chance to weigh in and push back against a destabilizing policy shift. CONTINUED
Seth Masket (U. of Denver), Politico Magazine
The OPINION TODAY email newsletter is a concise daily rundown of significant new poll results and insightful analysis. It’s FREE. Sign up here: opiniontoday.substack