After a long period early period where her vice presidency was criticized as directionless — a common characterization of the job no matter who holds the office — VP Kamala Harris has grabbed onto the abortion issue and used it to try to draw a meaningful visible line between the Biden-Harris administration and a potential Trump 2.0.
The Democrats see reproductive rights as a winning issue in November, an especially vital one where polls show that voter enthusiasm for both major party candidates is low. Poll after poll also reveal that strict post-Roe abortion laws being passed — or at least considered — by states don’t reflect the majority opinion.
So the distinction Harris is trying to make clear is stark: Biden wants to codify the eradicated protections of Roe v. Wade, while Trump wants states to have autonomy on abortion. In the video below, featuring Harris’s commentary on Trump’s statements, Harris makes the issue about privacy, stressing that Trump will acquiesce when states want to “monitor women’s pregnancies.”
Vice President Harris responds to Trump saying he wants to allow laws “monitoring” women’s pregnancies pic.twitter.com/pJ4reCfCsW
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) May 13, 2024
Harris makes an appeal crafted to ring true with small government conservatives who aren’t coming out of the evangelical wing of the GOP, where abortion is the top issue. For the non-evangelical GOP voters, less government intrusion into private lives has long been a core principle of establishment Republicanism.
MAGA legislators have tried to govern tactically from a minority position, but abortion presents a unique challenge: 59 percent of surveyed Americans believe abortion should be legal according to an April Fox News poll.