On Thursday, CNN analyst and former White House adviser David Axelrod asserted that the Supreme Court rulings mean the Right is now losing the culture war. He couldn’t be further from the truth.
Axelrod claimed it was “incredible to say,” but Republicans had found themselves on “the wrong end of the culture wars” thanks to the Supreme Court’s rulings. The logic behind his claim is that rulings letting states restrict abortion, striking down expansive EPA powers, and forcing New York to honor the Second Amendment will lead to a backlash against conservatives and Republicans.
This is what Axelrod is counting on, but the evidence of such a backlash brewing hasn’t appeared anywhere yet.
Incredible to say but, thanks to the SCOTUS they helped build, the Rs suddenly find themselves on the wrong end of the culture wars.
— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) June 30, 2022
Democrats like to pretend that their abortion stance is popular, but Roe v. Wade was popular in name only. Abortion polling is notably fickle, but people consistently support restricting abortion far more than Roe allowed — including after six weeks of pregnancy in some polls. On top of that, abortion has been a topic that ramps up enthusiasm on the pro-life side, not for the Democrats. There is no indication yet of that dynamic changing.
Climate change is a popular issue only among tuned-in Democratic voters — most people simply don’t care. In the run-up to the 2020 presidential election, climate change was not among the top 10 issues voters were concerned about. As with abortion, voters will align themselves with Democrats on climate change in polls, but their voting patterns and enthusiasm levels tell a different story.
Guns and the Second Amendment have been a losing issue for Democrats for years now, and that isn’t likely to change because of the Supreme Court. Democrats thought they had their gun control moment after the Parkland, Florida, shooting in 2018, but as is the case every time Democrats try to push gun control, voters recognized that their proposals would not have prevented the shooting. The same has been true in the aftermath of the shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York.
The biggest issue in which conservatives have been winning the culture war has been the excesses of transgender activists. International sports organizations have finally started cracking down on men competing in women’s sports, while conservative positions on transgender child abuse and teaching about transgenderism in schools have consistently polled well. The Right won one of its biggest cultural battles earlier this year, when Florida forced Disney to back down in a legislative fight over teaching about gender identity and sexual orientation in schools.
The backlash to the Supreme Court might be brewing in legacy media newsrooms and liberal Twitter circles. But there is no sign that the same is happening among normal, nonobsessed people. You would have to be out of touch with the country, or engaging in wishful thinking, to believe otherwise.
