Roe v. Wade midterm woes

(NewsNation) — The impending November midterms are expected to be hit by the ripple effect of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, which ended constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place for nearly 50 years.

The court, in a 6-3 ruling powered by its conservative majority, upheld a Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks. The controversial decision could lead to abortion bans in roughly 26 states.

Republicans are now heading into a November midterm election that is poised to swiftly become a referendum on the court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, as voters decide which party should control Congress. With the nation polarized, Democrats are vowing legislation to protect abortion access and while Republicans want to impose further limits, including a nationwide ban on abortions.

However, the Hill’s Niall Stanage warned that despite the backlash, this issue may not empower enough outraged voters to get to the polls.

“There are complications to this idea that the ruling will necessarily galvanize Democratic voters, suburban women or otherwise, for a start,” Stanage said on “Morning in America.” “There are typically more so-called single-issue voters on the pro-choice or pro-abortion rights side. The other point I think that’s important to make, just in terms of politics is it seems plausible, that even people who are very pro-choice in their personal politics could look and say, ‘well, Democrats have the White House, have the Senate have the House of Representatives, and still weren’t able to prevent this from happening. So why would I vote for them in November?'”

The stakes are high with the control of Congress in the balance. With Biden’s approval rating low and economic conditions grim with high gas prices and other signs of inflation, Republicans are favored to pick up seats in both chambers and regain control. Democrats have just a slim few-vote margin in the House and barely hold the evenly split 50-50 Senate because Vice President Kamala Harris casts a vote in case of a tie.

This comes as a new CBS News/YouGov poll released Sunday, found that 52%of voters said the decision was a “step backward,” while 31% say it is a “step forward.” 17% said it was neither.

“This is a political problem for Republicans. They recognize that they’ve been relatively low-key as opposed to AOC and Elizabeth Warren. They know that suburban women who by and large if the polling is correct, oppose this decision and oppose the overturning of Roe v. Wade,” said NewsNation’s DC Bureau chief Micheal Viqueria. “Suburban women are where elections are won and lost on a statewide level and on a national level. So yes it is potentially a galvanizing issue for Democrats come November.”

Overall, the poll found that 59% of respondents disapprove of the ruling, and 41% approve. More than two-thirds of women surveyed — 67% — disapproved of the ruling while 33% were in favor of it. A NewsNation poll, taken before Roe was overturned, found that 56% of voters said Roe should not be overturned with only 28% favoring the removal of protections for abortions.

These interviews have been edited for clarity and length. You can watch the full interviews above.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.