Judy: Thank you.
So this week's election was the
first since the supreme court
overturned the constitutional
right to an abortion six months
ago.
Since then, 12 states have put
in place total bans on the
procedure.
Other states have enacted
restrictions.
That was top of mind for many
voters in this election and in
some states, access to abortion
was literally on the ballot.
For more on those results and
what they mean, I'm joined by
Laura.
I know you have been following
this issue for many months now
so let's talk about the states
that had this as a ballot
measure.
It was there for people to vote
on directly.
You saw people making a clear
statement.
Tell us about those.
Laura: There were five states
where voters had abortion on the
ballot.
In those five states were
Kentucky, Michigan, California,
Vermont, and Montana.
Across all five of them, voters
ultimately supported protecting
abortion access rather than
restricting it.
In three of those, California,
Michigan, and Vermont, that
enshrined abortion rights in the
state constitution, the two
outliers were Kentucky and
Montana.
In Kentucky, voters defeated a
measure that would have put no
protection for abortion rights.
In Montana, the measure there
did not directly say abortion
applied.
It has to do with babies being
born alive and it would have
made them a legal person and
doctors were not in favor of
this because of the fact that
they felt as though it would
hurt the care for premature
babies who will not survive.
That measure was ultimately
defeated.
That race was called today,
ballot measure called today.
That came to 52.5% voting no.
Defeating that measure, 47.5%
voting yes.
Judy: Let's talk about the
governor's races were abortion
access on the ballot, clear
contrast between candidates.
What did we learn from those?
Laura: I was tracking three
states here.
Democratic candidates and a lot
of states really focused on
abortion access and made it
their rallying cry for voters
against Republican candidates.
The three states I wanted to
talk about where Michigan,
Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.
He was reelected and made this a
key issue in her race.
And then Tony Evers in Wisconsin
was reelected and he again was
also focused on abortion,
particularly with the prospect
of a very strong GOP state
legislature there.
Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania, a
new governor-elect in
Pennsylvania, and he very much
was focused on reproductive
rights.
He opposed his Republican
opponent who was actually very
much in favor of severe
restriction on abortion access
there.
Judy: If you step back and look
at the issue across the country,
how big a factor was abortion
and how these races turned out?
Laura: It appears to have been a
really major factor and that is
what I was hearing when I was on
the ground in Michigan from
female voters there as well as
some Pennsylvania voters I was
talking to.
And we have a data point that
really hammers this which is the
ap survey of voters found that
24% of voters cited abortion as
their top issue and of those,
70% voted for the democratic
candidate.
27% for the Republican
candidate, so a big difference
there in ultimately people
supporting abortion access,
favoring Democrats.
I spoke to a veteran democratic
pollster today who said
Democrats needed a dynamic event
if they were going to defy
history in a midterm election
and that ultimately, the supreme
court's decision on abortion
gave them that dynamic event.
It helped Democrats counter
inflation because a lot of
voters who cited inflation as
their top concern, they ended up
breaking from Republicans.
Judy: Finally, quickly, we know
president Biden made abortion
rights a central part of his
arguments in these elections.
What is the white house looking
at what it can do in the next
few years?
Laura: I asked about
this today.
I asked her if they were going
to still send a bill to congress
in January that would codify roe
V. Wade, and this is what she
said.
>> We just have to see what the
complexion of congress is going
to look like and then we will
move forward from there.
>> Is there anything else the
president thinks he can do if
there is only one seat in the
senate? >> He's going to do
everything that he can.
People have said he was not
going to get the infrastructure
legislation done.
He got it done.
People did not think he was
going to get the science act
done.
We got it done.
>> At best, Democrats may have a
one seat majority in the senate
and ultimately, Biden had sent
this final message to voters.
Two more democratic senators
that he could potentially
overcome a filibuster and see
roe V. Wade codified.
It doesn't look like Democrats
are going to have that at all.
They said that they are going to
look more at potential executive
actions and other options the
administration can take.
Judy: That does not look likely
but clearly, abortion is a
bigger issue for voters and was
expected.
Thank you.
Laura: Thank you.