Washington, D.C. – Will it be the women of America who decide the outcome of the upcoming elections? For months, the people who think they know more about elections than anyone else said that this would be the case.
Their reasoning is faulty, as is often the case, but they’ve stumbled onto the right answer anyway in much the same way a blind squirrel still occasionally finds an acorn. Women are coming out to vote in November, perhaps in record numbers for a midterm election, but not for the reasons we’ve been told to believe.
The number of women intending to vote, the quote-unquote conventional wisdom says, is rising in reaction to the decision of the United States Supreme Court in the Dobbs case overturning Roe v. Wade. That ruling, which critics have called a blow to reproductive freedom, puts the responsibility for determining what, if any, restrictions should be placed on abortion back onto the state and federal legislative branches of government.
After it was handed down you couldn’t swing a dead cat (or a live one for that matter) anywhere in the vicinity of a major media newsroom without hitting an analyst who predicted in grave, solemn tones that women would rise up to defend their “reproductive freedom.”
Perhaps – and the Democrats are banking these analysts are right in their effort to keep control of Congress so President Joe Biden can have two more years to sign the ultra-progressive legislation they send him. Unfortunately for them, it looks like they’ve been misinformed.
What’s happening post-Dobbs, strangely enough – and what the agenda setters whose reportage and commentary shape election coverage from Maine to California can’t or won’t see – is that abortion isn’t showing up on the list of things women who intend on voting are concerned about. Women aren’t any more monolithic in their views or voting behavior than most of the key demographics the politicians target at election time. The pro-abortion rights position may dominate among the women who work in The New York Times’ newsroom. It doesn’t necessarily inform the positions held by all women.
Most polling shows consistently over many years that, of the two extremes, what is referred to as the pure pro-life position is marginally more popular than the position held by people at the other end of the spectrum. Most Americans (and most women) who have a position on the issue favor some kind of compromise.
Most of the pundit class doesn’t see it that way. It was perfectly natural for them to predict, therefore, after the Dobbs decision was handed down, that America’s women would be headed to the polls in record numbers seeking a rhetorical pound of electoral flesh from candidates and incumbents they believed to be at odds with their newly lost “rights.”
What was it the man said back in 1992? “It’s the economy, stupid.” So, it is again in 2022, and that’s not just the view of conservative organizations and analysts who the progressives think are whistling past the graveyard in which American conservatism will be buried after being crushed on November 8. There’s plenty of polling data that has nothing to do with candidates running for office that suggests, if there’s a wave coming, it’s going to sweep away the left.
A Change Research poll conducted for the Higher Heights Leadership Fund – a group that helps elect progressive black women running for office – found nearly 75 percent of the black women they surveyed were “motivated more than ever before” to vote in the next election because Joe Biden’s economic policies were hurting their families.
These women said they were “extremely worried” about the impact that Bidenomics is having on family budgets. They’re going to vote, but against higher gas prices, increasing housing expenses and the dramatic uptick in the cost of groceries and health care.
Another poll released Monday, conducted for The New York Times by Siena College, found a 32-point swing among independent women towards the GOP. Republicans now have an 18-point advantage in this key demographic. In September, before the Democrats started punching hard on the abortion issue – a study conducted by AdImpact cited Monday by National Review found the Democrats had spent $73 million on ads with abortion-related messages last month – the Democrats were up among voters in this group by 14 points.
Here’s how it all broke out in the poll which, because it asked questions of likely voters can be viewed with less suspicion than some of the other surveys popping up regarding the opinions of registered voters and all adults.
The most important issue, as identified by those participating in the poll, is the economy. Just over a quarter of those surveyed – 26 percent – said it was their number one issue followed by 18 percent who said inflation.
Added together, not an unreasonable thing to do, 44 percent of all respondents picked something that had to do with the economy as their number one issue as they prepare to go to the polls. Abortion came in at 5 percent, as did immigration. And two-thirds of the country, 64 percent, said the country was headed in the wrong direction. If these are the voters the Democrats are counting on to help them maintain their majority, and it looks like they are, it doesn’t augur well for the president, his party or for any of the candidates whom the polls are showing running narrowly ahead of their Republican opponents.
Lots of things could happen to upend the election before all is done. A November 1 indictment of former President Donald J. Trump by the U.S. Department of Justice over his alleged mishandling of classified documents after he left office or something like it could push voters, especially those who are independently-minded, away from the GOP. Likewise, a sudden spike in oil prices sparked by the production cutbacks imposed by the Saudis as a reminder to President Biden of who’s really in charge could send voters flocking to the Republican ranks. Too many uncertainties remain for anyone to confidently predict a “Red Wave” is massing off the electoral shores. The chances of a “Blue Wave,” which some analysts still thought possible as late as October 1, recedes day by day. If you can believe the polls, most Americans want a divided government as a check on the extremism of the progressive agenda. And they’ll probably get it.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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Of course abortion is important to women, but let’s face it, the pocket book issues are more important right now. The economy is sinking, we have sky high prices for everything, so inflation is running rampart and that effects everybody. We’ve seen that the left does nothing but spend money and it’s mostly going to area where it doesn’t help the American citizens. There could well be a big surprise come November.
Folks that would kill a baby would also swing a cat.
old bull shyte………