Indivisibles,

Sarah here -- one of Indivisible’s co-founders and Chief Campaigns Officer. 

If your email inbox is anything like mine, you’re going to get a lot of emails today from organizations not all that different than Indivisible telling you about the oral arguments unfolding at the Supreme Court in the Idaho v. United States case (also known as the one with anti-abortion extremists arguing that a pregnant woman experiencing a medical emergency shouldn’t be protected under federal law and doctors should have to wait until she’s really dying before performing a life-saving abortion. But more on that later and, in the words of the Chairman, 🎵 I hate it here 🎵). 

You’ll get emails from the DNC. The DCCC. PACs and funds that, honestly, I’ve lost track of because there are just so many. Candidates running for every level of office you can possibly imagine from places that you’ve probably never heard of, let alone lived in. 

Am I right so far?

All of them are going to talk about the stakes. They’re going to remind you that Republicans want to ban abortion nationwide. They’re going to ask you to be outraged, sign up, add your name, or chip in.

They’re not wrong. And look, we send emails like this most days too -- anger is a powerful motivator!

But here’s what I also know: You’re already angry. And you sure as hell don’t need another Supreme Court case to know how high the stakes are. 

That’s why today, I’m not going to spend a lot of column inches walking through what’s happening at the Supreme Court (you can read this explainer). Instead, I’m just going to tell you how we win, so hopefully, we can take a little breather from the anger that has become such a normal part of our lives (and inboxes) over the last seven years.

Enter: Double-Haters

TL;DR, Double-Hater voters are the folks who are unsatisfied with both Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

✅ They make up about one-fifth of the electorate.

✅ They consist of an equal number of Republicans and Democrats.

✅ They’re slightly younger than the general population, but not by much. 

✅ While Donald Trump won this group in 2016, Joe Biden won them in 2020.

They’re critically important, incredibly volatile, and a key part of how we retake our Democratic trifecta in November.

How? 

Even though there are a lot of issues that we disagree with the Double-Haters on, there’s one area where we’re pretty damn aligned: reproductive freedom. And we can use that alignment to bring them into our pro-democracy, pro-abortion coalition if we do it right. 

‘Donald Trump Did This’ is a Soundbite with a Purpose

Over the last several weeks, as reporters breathlessly covered Donald Trump’s comments on abortion bans as new positions (reader, they’re not), you may have noticed that President Biden and Vice President Harris have been making the rounds with one soundbite: Donald Trump did this.

It’s a powerful ad. I shared it -- you probably did too. But, did you realize that they’re not talking to us?

They’re talking to the Double-Haters. 

Because here’s the thing: A significant challenge we face with Double-Hater voters is their lack of awareness about Donald Trump’s true stance on abortion. Many of them are unaware that he has bragged about his role in overturning Roe v. Wade. Few know that on the campaign trail, he once said that women who get abortions should be punished. Even fewer make the connection between his campaign promise to overturn Roe and what is happening across the country right now. For a lot of these folks, this is all new information. 

These Double-Haters don’t perceive Donald Trump as particularly religious or with strong moral convictions against abortion. If they attribute his stances to anything, it’s simply opportunism and feeding his ego. In other words, they don’t believe that Trump is really pro-life -- they just think that he’s pro-Trump.

They’re not far off base here. But this little fact is important -- if you want these people to believe (as we do) that everything Donald Trump says today about how he wouldn’t sign a national abortion ban into law is bullshit, you have to lean into what these voters already believe about him.

That means anytime there is breaking news in the next several months (like there is today) on another state ban, Supreme Court case, or misleading Trump statement, this is how we have to talk about it with these Double-Haters in mind:

• Clarify Trump’s stance: Proactively communicate Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn Roe and how those efforts are directly responsible for state-level attacks on our reproductive freedoms today. Remind voters what he has done, and what he would do if given the chance, without getting into the weeds.
• Connect Trump to Republican extremism: Consistently link Donald Trump and allies to their extreme, unpopular positions on abortion that alienate mainstream voters. Call attention to Project 2025, the 1000+ page MAGA blueprint for how a second Trump administration will pack the federal government with extremists eager to implement those positions.
• Remind voters Trump can’t be trusted on abortion because he will do anything to get elected. Unlike the rest of the GOP, Double-Hater voters do not perceive that Trump has any strong religious or moral convictions against abortion -- but voters are willing to believe that he will do whatever is politically convenient for him, including signing a national abortion ban if it comes to his desk as president, if the argument is made.
• Provide contrast: Offer a forward-looking message with a sharp contrast of a world under Republican control and a world under Democratic control -- e.g., Donald Trump and Republicans will ban abortion nationwide if given the chance; President Biden and Democrats will codify abortion rights with a Democratic trifecta in 2025.

Here’s what you can do right now to help with this critical group: 

1. Join our national phonebank. We need you to show up on May 2 to talk to voters about what’s at stake and what a future under Donald Trump and Republicans would really look like -- you’ll get a chance to put some of these message frameworks to good use.
2. Help us spread the word with voters about what’s happening at the Supreme Court today. Use our digital toolkit to talk to people about the fact that anti-MAGA extremists, emboldened by Donald Trump and his enablers, are currently making a case for criminalizing doctors and preventing pregnant women from getting emergency abortion care. Remind folks that Donald Trump did this.
3. Hold your Republican members of Congress accountable by educating voters about their extremism. If your Republican representative or senator (or both!) were one of the 121 members of Congress who signed onto an amicus brief in support of Idaho’s absolutely cruel abortion ban (you can check here), they’re counting on the fact that likely no one is going to know about it. Call them using our House or Senate script and then follow the instructions post-call to make sure their voters know about it (just click the red “I’m Done!” button and you’ll get your next to-dos). 
4. Chip in so we can talk to more double-hater voters, bring them into our coalition, and win in November. I know, I know -- you’ve got a lot of fundraising asks in your inbox today. But the work that we’ve got to do this year is really not possible without your support. Period. And the math here is simple: The more that you can send our way, the more voters we can talk to.

We can’t just be angry, y’all. It’s just not enough. We need to be strategic, proactive, and relentless. THAT is how we win.

Let’s get to work.

In solidarity,
Sarah Dohl
Chief Campaigns Officer, Indivisible