Is abortion really that good of an issue for Democrats?

There is conventional wisdom that says that the overturning of Roe v. Wade is good news for democrats come the 2022 elections. With everything else going wrong, choice might be the issue that gets non-political, infrequently voting voters out to the polls and voting.

But that logic may be wrong. For one, do occasional, in other words non-political voters think much about abortion? Even women probably don’t give a lot of thought about abortion – it’s not something that effects every day life much unless of course your sexually active, and only then if contraception fails, the pregnancy is successful and you don’t want a child. Not that such a decision is an uncommon situation but it’s not an every day one.

Indigestion over the evening news is real and can motivate people to vote, and certainly many actively pro-choice political people will be motivated to vote. But so will pro-life people. Now is the time states can implement effective pro life measures, after all, if the right people are elected. But it might be a wash, as most of those people already do vote. Most people aren’t vercious news consumers and probably don’t really have particularly strong opinions one way or another.

Abortion will probably excite both the Democratic and Republican bases this year. Just like the rash of gun restrictions passed in the wake of the latest mass shootings. But will ordinary non-political people care? Maybe some will but truth be told most of them have long ago made up their minds.