Establishment Media Use Abortion Issue to ‘Jolt’ Midterm Election Enthusiasm

Abortion rights activists chant outside of the White House in Lafayette Park as they prote
Samuel Corum/AFP/Getty Images

The establishment media are attempting to use the historic fall of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade abortion ruling to “jolt” midterm election enthusiasm and distract from President Joe Biden’s 40-year-high inflation.

With the midterm elections quickly approaching in November, the Democrat-allied media are trying to find an angle to galvanize voter enthusiasm. Polling shows Republicans have a substantial lead in enthusiasm, a key metric for midterm election success. Biden’s 40-year-high inflation, the greatest concern among Americans, seems to be driving the nation’s preference for Republican leadership in Washington, D.C. However, the establishment media seem to believe the fall of Roe v. Wade will “jolt” the Democrat Party in the right direction.

“Democrats hope the fall of Roe v. Wade will jolt abortion rights supporters into action in midterm elections,” the New York Times’s Katie Glueck claimed Friday in her article titled, “It’s Become Real’: Abortion Decision Roils Midterms, Sending Fight to States.”

In the article, Glueck notes the Democrats have been “preparing” to use the fall of Roe to galvanize Democrat enthusiasm for the midterms. “But is it enough to turn voters’ attention away from inflation?” she asked.

“Democrats had been preparing to try to direct the expected outpouring of shock and anger into electoral action once the opinion was handed down, with party committees and state parties conferring on national messaging and mobilization plans, as well as launching a website on Friday to direct organizing efforts,” Glueck wrote of the Democrats’ action plans.

On CNN, political commentator S.E. Cupp stated over the weekend the resurrected abortion issue would help Democrats in the midterm elections. Though inflation is the number one issue, Cupp said she “can’t imagine a better voter turnout engine than this ruling for Democrats” in the midterm elections.

“And you can make the argument that the Republicans’ legislative victories and the Supreme Court victory by a conservative court are regressive, they’re taking us backwards. Whether you like them or not, you can’t deny the fact that they’re going backwards… They’re taking us back to a different time when these weren’t rights,” she said. “It really does feel anachronistic with where the country is, and so I think that’s a good message for Democrats.”

On Sunday, the Washington Post’s Annie Linskey and Colby Itkowitz had a similar take but went a step further to suggest inflation is a Republican talking point. The Post’s article claimed Democrat candidates have an opportunity to seize the moment by “seeking to turn anger about the decision into support at the ballot box, even as Republicans aim to keep attention on rising prices and crime less than five months before the midterms.”

“Democratic strategists argued that such a massive change in the legal landscape will trigger a drumbeat of news coverage as states adapt, keeping the issue front of mind for a sustained period,” the Post’s article continued. “Some argued it could help the party improve its standing among women, including those in the suburbs who grew frustrated with Democrats over pandemic school closures.”

Though the Democrat-allied media are attempting to use the abortion issue to distract from Biden’s 40-year-high inflation, polling shows that inflation is the dominant issue heading into the midterm election. According to Rasmussen Reports, voters are more concerned about inflation than abortion by 18 percentage points. Quinnipiac polling also reveals 97 percent of Americans believe Biden’s 40-year-high inflation is either a crisis or a problem.

The polling is bad news for the Democrat candidates, who will have to make the case in the coming months that rising costs are of less importance than abortion becoming a state issue. According to Moody’s, inflation will cost families an additional $5,520 per year, increasing from a projection in March. Soaring energy costs are a large part of Biden’s inflation. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), Americans will pay $450 more for gas in 2022 than they did last year on an inflation-adjusted basis.

Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter and Gettr @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.

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