Opinion | Will Abortion Save the Democrats?

To not spoil the progressive reverie, however look once more on the polling, beginning with the most recent Harvard/Harris survey, which was carried out after the Court docket overturned Roe. Fifty-five p.c of voters, together with 61% of ladies, say they oppose that reversal. But many individuals, as ordinary, don’t appear to grasp what precisely Roe enshrined, which was an unrestricted proper to abortion earlier than about 23 or 24 weeks.

When, particularly, do the respondents assume abortion needs to be authorized? Beginning with essentially the most restrictive, 37% say solely after rape or incest. One other 12% say till six weeks of being pregnant, and 23% say as much as 15 weeks. Add these figures collectively and it’s almost three quarters of voters (together with 75% of ladies) who want a coverage that Roe deemed unlawful.

As for the livid response to the lack of Roe, 59% of voters, together with 61% of independents, say it’s “incorrect” for Democrats to name the Supreme Court docket “illegitimate.” Additionally, 62% say folks shouldn’t be allowed to protest exterior the Justices’ non-public houses, and 51% imagine such activists needs to be arrested. As for the election, 36% say Roe’s reversal makes them extra more likely to vote for Democrats, 36% say the identical for Republicans, and 29% say it gained’t matter.

That is one survey, and the standard caveats apply, however the image is remarkably constant. (See our June 10 editorial, “The Contradictions of Abortion Polling.”) Democrats won’t respect the median view on abortion, and their invoice in Congress suggests they don’t. However a lot of them appear not even to grasp it.