Round Rock, Texas: abortion policy could make the republican partys suburban-womens problem better than it did in the 1980s

Round Rock, Texas is north of the capital, Austin. She describes herself as – for the most part — a conservative Christian. She sees abortion as not just a political issue and a moral one. She doesn’t think it’s something she would ever consider. The government has a problem interfering in these kinds of decisions.

“That is completely up to her and there is no judgment and there is no right for me to tell her otherwise,” she said. “I do think that sometimes when the government gets a little too — they step in a little too much we end up having a lot of other social issues.”

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/04/25/1171728903/abortion-policies-could-make-the-republican-partys-suburban-women-problem-worse

The Suburban Women Problem: A Case Study of a Republican Party and a Times-Revisited Political Leader’s View of Abortion

Suburban women voters have become an increasingly important bloc for both political parties. Suburban voter behavior in the last few elections is hard to predict because of the political shifts that have occurred. Many women could lose favor with the Republicans because of abortion policies being pushed by them.

That’s no more evident than in Texas which has been ground zero for abortion restrictions. The state has the strictest abortion laws in the country. It passed a six-week abortion restriction in 2021, its novel enforcement strategy stood scrutiny of the Supreme Court and it was upheld by the court, and it has been in effect since then.

Rachel Vindman claims that The Suburban Women Problem is a reference to something Lindsey Graham said about the upcoming elections.

“We’ve got to address the suburban women problem because it’s real,” Graham said, after the network projected Republicans would lose control of the House of Representatives.

But Vindman says the situation has changed. The party’s recent support for cutting off access to one of the two pills used in a medication abortion is just the latest example.

“It falls into this extremism as a whole,” she said. I was a Republican for a long time. For a long time, it was a part of the Republican Party. And what used to be part of the conservative movement was this individual responsibility and smaller government.”

Rebecca Deen, a political science professor at UT Arlington, says these more extreme policies have also made the issue of abortion more salient. People hear about it more often, which means that they think about it more often.

“Politicians get into the news more and more so that it becomes more problematic for voters if they don’t have a good solution to their problem,” she said.

Do Congressional Democrats Support Protected Abortion? A Survey of Congressional Research Service reveals Dem Demographics and Political Implications

In addition to the people who say they support abortion rights, another group also says they have either had an abortion or know someone who has. That includes 69% of Democrats, 59% of independents and even a majority of Republicans (54%).

Most of the almost 1,300 respondents also said they are favor of restrictions, but they are opposed to many of the measures Republicans are pushing in red states.

Republicans have struggled to find a balance after 50 years of lobbying for repeal of the landmark ruling. They got what they wanted, but have suffered politically since.

A majority of Republicans and a significant number of independents want abortion restricted to three months or less. A majority of Democrats favor a longer window, but even 42% of Democrats want to see it limited.

On yet another issue, Republicans in red states are overplaying their hand politically, pushing policies that are out of step with the majority of Americans.

According to an analysis by the Congressional Research Service, it is possible for GOP candidates to fail to win a general election if they oppose safe-haven states.