Rim Country Gazette: Two-thirds of American voters want Roe v. Wade to stay the law of the land

Friday, July 6, 2018

Two-thirds of American voters want Roe v. Wade to stay the law of the land

WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 24: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) (L) and U.S. President Donald Trump arrive for the Republican Senate Policy Luncheon at the U.S. Capitol October 24, 2017 in Washington, DC. Trump joined the senators to talk about upcoming legislation, including the proposed GOP tax cuts and reform. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) — **We are not going to let these old white men control our bodies.**

While conservative rags have opinion pages blaring headlines like "Overturn Roe v. Wade,” two-thirds of American voters—67 percent—say it needs to be preserved.

And that's from a poll taken before Justice Anthony Kennedy, the key swing vote on abortion on a closely divided Supreme Court, retired.

Again, these results are from the Kaiser Family Foundation's health tracking poll taken before Kennedy retired, before we learned that Donald Trump would have the opportunity to steal another Supreme Court seat. Trump has not only pledged to overturn Roe, he's endorsed criminalizing abortion and punishing women. That's what Trump wants to happen with this seat.

So the 42 percent of voters who "say they are more likely to vote for a candidate who supports access to abortion services" is likely to increase significantly now that the threat is so very real and so very imminent.

The strongest support for the law comes from the group of women who are directly affected by having abortion rights, women of reproductive age. Three-quarters—74 percent—of women ages 18-44 want Roe to stay. That's not to diminish the strong support for Roe coming from all women (68 percent) and from men (65 percent), but that's a lot of women.

A lot of women who are already so fired up about this election that not only are a record number of women running for office, but they are winning primary elections in record numbers. It's Democratic women who are running and winning and mobilizing.

If Republicans think they'll win this midterm election by running on the Supreme Court and overturning Roe to juice turnout in their base, they are miscalculating. If vulnerable Democratic senators think compromising on a Supreme Court justice who would vote to get rid of abortion will keep them safe, they're really miscalculating.