<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1655260533170,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"00000162-07b2-d172-a563-4ffafb0a0000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1655260533170,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"00000162-07b2-d172-a563-4ffafb0a0000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_55236888", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1032664"} }); ","_id":"00000181-6537-dd13-a9fb-7d3f45e40000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedRepublicans and Democrats are waging a political war for women before the 2022 midterm elections.
A redux of the Democrats’ “War on Women” messaging is being rolled out against Republicans amid speculation that the Supreme Court is poised to overturn the 1973 landmark pro-abortion rights decision, Roe v. Wade. But the GOP contends pocketbook pressures and rising crime will puncture the Democratic rhetoric this cycle.
WHITE HOUSE CONTENDS WITH DEMOCRATS HINTING IT’S TIME TO DUMP BIDEN IN 2024
Democrats reduce women to single-issue voters regarding abortion access, according to New Jersey Republican strategist Jeanette Hoffman.
“Democrats are going to try and use the abortion issue as a way to scare women into coming out and voting,” she told the Washington Examiner. “But women care about more than just one issue, and you can’t just put them in a box and use one issue. They care about their families. They care about education. They care about crime. They care about paying their bills and being able to shop at a grocery store.”
For Hoffman, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization will not improve the Democrats’ November prospects because “people who are voting on the abortion issue are already voting on party lines.” Republicans have an advantage of 3.5 percentage points over Democrats on generic congressional ballot polling, according to RealClearPolitics.
“Those battle lines have been drawn,” Hoffman said. “Democrats have been using the abortion issue, every two years anyway, for federal elections. So no, I don’t think this is going to motivate anyone to come out that wasn’t coming out.”
Meanwhile, the Republican National Committee and other GOP operatives have been amplifying the baby formula and tampon supply shortages, in addition to May’s uptick in unemployment among women to 3.4%.
“From the ability to feed their children to historic inflation, women are being left behind under the Biden-Harris administration,” RNC spokeswoman Nicole Morales said.
Hoffman likened the baby formula and tampon problems to a “dystopian nightmare” exacerbated by May’s 8.6% inflation rate, a 41-year record, and the national average cost of gas reaching $5 per gallon. Feminine products have increased by almost 10% since January.
“There’s a shortage of basic necessities,” Hoffman said. “It’s really difficult for women when you’re trying to raise a family.”
While some Democrats agree with Hoffman that abortion access is unlikely to counteract economic concerns, Democratic consultant Mary Anne Marsh is not one of them.
“Suburban independent women voters who turned out in 2018 and voted out Republican members of Congress and voted in Democrats are the same women who turned out in 2020 and voted out Donald Trump and voted in Joe Biden,” she said.
Marsh echoed President Joe Biden and other Democrats who claim the leaked Dobbs draft opinion’s reinterpretation of Roe’s privacy ruling will have repercussions for contraceptive access, gay and interracial marriages, as well as desegregated schools. Justice Samuel Alito, the author of the draft opinion, argued in the document that there was no such connection.
Citing the House Jan. 6 Select Committee, she also disagreed with Democrats who suggest the panel’s public hearings will have little impact, repeating how approximately 20 million watched the opening testimony.
“They are watching the Jan. 6 hearings and all the things that Donald Trump did to overthrow our country and our democracy, and yet all of those Republicans wouldn’t stand up to Donald Trump when he was in office and won’t stand up to him now,” she said. “So they know they’re not standing up for them and their families. They watch them, and they say they’re spending more time banning abortion and books than they are on trying to ban guns to keep my kids safe.”
Morales’s Democratic counterpart Adonna Biel underscored the Republican platform for women and GOP lawmakers’ inaction on “funding to address the baby formula shortage, making abortion illegal, and even banning abortion with no exceptions for rape or incest.”
“It’s laughable Republicans think that’s a winning agenda compared to President Biden and Democrats working tirelessly to lower costs, protect a women’s ability to make decisions about her own body, and successfully helping schools reopen after the pandemic,” the Democratic National Committee spokeswoman said. “We’ll take that contrast every single day of the week.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The Democrats’ “war on women” message emerged after the 2010 midterm contests following Republican complaints about the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate and abortion provider support. It was reapplied during former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.
