How abortion is changing the way people vote
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 9 September 2022
⏱️ 22 minutes
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Summary
In the run up to the midterms, no issue has upended the battle for control over Congress and statehouses as abruptly as abortion. Could it slow down — or stop — the anticipated red wave?
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The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in June has shifted the midterm landscape. Many had previously anticipated a Republican wave in November, but that advantage could be eroded by voters concerned over the rollback of abortion protections around the country.
Since this summer, Democrats have overperformed in special elections, and voters showed up in droves to reject a ballot measure aimed at restricting abortion in deeply conservative Kansas. While Democratic candidates are highlighting the antiabortion views of their opponents, Republican candidates are moderating their stances on websites and campaign trails.
Campaign reporter Hannah Knowles traveled to Pennsylvania to speak with voters there about how their views on abortion will impact their voting behavior on Election Day.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Where I live, it's extremely Republican. |
| 0:05.8 | Like, everywhere you go, it's MAGA signs and Trump, this Trump that... |
| 0:11.2 | Britney Preston grew up in a small town in Central Pennsylvania, a conservative corner of |
| 0:16.6 | a purple state. |
| 0:18.3 | If you wear anything or look like you're not a fan of Trump, a worshipper of Trump, people |
| 0:24.2 | will look at you and be like, you're a snowflake, you're sheep. |
| 0:28.1 | It's honestly like you feel bullied into being quiet. |
| 0:33.4 | Britney is 22 and up until now she didn't feel like her vote mattered that much. |
| 0:38.2 | So she's never cast a ballot in an election before. |
| 0:42.0 | But that's going to change in November for Britney and for a lot of other people. |
| 0:49.7 | So we had this list of people who had just registered. |
| 0:52.9 | I literally just went down the list calling people. |
| 0:56.1 | This campaign reporter Hannah Knowles, she's been calling up people who registered to vote |
| 1:00.3 | in Pennsylvania this summer. |
| 1:02.3 | And there was one thing that kept coming up over and over again. |
| 1:06.5 | The Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. |
| 1:10.0 | It was so clear from those conversations that, you know, these people were directly |
| 1:14.4 | motivated to vote because of abortion. |
| 1:16.3 | They brought it up without me even asking directly about it. |
| 1:20.4 | And one of those people was Britney. |
| 1:23.0 | She had been thinking a lot about this issue because of her own life story. |
| 1:27.2 | A lot of people believe that like the foster system is an outing like, oh, you know, instead |
... |
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