A survey reveals that Donald Trump’s leave it up to the states abortion talking point is a massive failure in Pennsylvania.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported on the Franklin & Marshall survey on abortion in PA:
On the issue of whether Pennsylvanians want their preferred abortion law to be federal, or whether each state should choose its own law, 69% chose a federal law. That includes 58% of Republicans and 79% of Democrats.
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Requiring that doctors show an ultrasound of the fetus prior to an abortion is favored by 46% of Pennsylvanians, including 58% of Republicans and 34% of Democrats. Nationally, 48% of respondents supported the requirement to show an ultrasound.
Similarly, 45% of Pennsylvanians indicated that they think that a woman should have a waiting period between one and three days before receiving an abortion, including 58% of Republicans and 31% of Democrats, the survey found.
The culture war stuff also doesn’t work in Pennsylvania on the issue of birth control, as 89% support the ACA requirement that birth control be covered by insurance, 79% support increasing funding for clinics that provide free or low-cost birth control, 82% support public schools being required to teach about birth control, and 81% support a nationwide prohibition on state and local governments being able to ban birth control.
The survey was conducted earlier in the summer, but abortion is a static issue. Since the Dobbs decision, support for reproductive freedom has only increased.
Donald Trump’s abortion and culture war talking points have not been working in Pennsylvania, In fact, they are harming his campaign. Pennsylvania is a purple state, but it is more liberal on social issues than the closeness of its elections indicates. The state is moderate, so there is a great deal of consensus-building built into Keystone State politics, which is why anyone who is extremely left or right tends to lose statewide.
Given that Kamala Harris has changed the composition of the likely electorate in Pennsylvania in a way that will likely increase turnout among young voters, women, and non-white voters, abortion is capable of doing damage to Trump.
A swing of a point or two is huge in Pennsylvania, and as an issue, reproductive freedom is more than capable of delivering enough votes to sink Trump in the state.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
