BY KATHY SPILLAR | Results continue to trickle in from the midterms. With Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s win in Nevada, the Senate will officially remain under Democratic control, with the opportunity to pick up another seat in the Georgia runoff between Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) and Herschel Walker (R). The future of the U.S. House remains unclear; in the end, Republicans may end up with a slight majority. Still, it’s clear the “red tsunami” predicted in the run up to the elections never materialized.
As pollsters and pundits continue to make sense of the midterm aftermath, they are finally recognizing that the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, and red state legislatures banning abortions, were decisive issues in this election.
This, after weeks of predicting that abortion had faded in voters’ minds with inflation, cost of living, crime, immigration and other traditionally-Republican issues emerging as the driving forces in 2022. The mostly all-male group of national media pollsters predicted the Democrats would lose at least 20 seats in the House with as many as 40 to 60—as has been the case in past midterm elections for the party in power.
Ms. published several reports before the election on the likely impact of abortion on the midterms, and what needs to happen going forward to secure our fundamental right to autonomy. In October 2022, Ms. and the Feminist Majority Foundation released polling reports among likely voters in nine battleground states conducted by Lake Research Partners. Survey questions to these critical voters were about their priorities issues in the upcoming election including how they ranked abortion and the Equal Rights Amendment. A companion Ms. poll of young voters included many never-before-asked questions on the impact of Dobbs and how abortion related to choices for college, jobs, places to live and more.
The Ms. polls found that among young women voters (in battleground states), abortion and equal rights were the most important and highly motivating issues in determining their vote. And among women voters of all ages in the nine states, abortion and women’s rights were tied with inflation and rising prices in determining their votes. Significant gender gaps favoring Democrats were found across all racial and age groups.
(Click here to read more)
