President Biden and Democrats are focusing on former President Trump's role in restricting access to abortion, using the anniversary of the Dobbs decision to target him on the issue.
“Today our daughters have fewer rights than their grandmothers. This is a health care crisis, and we all know who to blame: Donald Trump,” Vice President Harris said Monday at a campaign event in Maryland.
She placed the blame squarely on Trump, saying he “intended” for the three Supreme Court justices he appointed to overturn Roe, calling it “premeditated.”
Separately, Biden declared in a campaign video that “decades of progress” were “shattered just because the last man got four years in the White House.”
Democrats' attempt to use abortion rights to their advantage is hardly a surprise or a new campaign tactic. The party has credited election victories in the last cycle to the Supreme Court, which boosted Democrats on abortion rights.
Trump has also doubled down on credit for the Supreme Court's action, and the Biden campaign is telegraphing his intention to make the issue an issue in this week's first presidential debate between the candidates.
Trump said Saturday that “we did a great thing” by confirming conservative justices to the court to overturn the Roe decision that had stood for half a century. But the former president has tried to deliver a balanced message on abortion, a possible sign of the political danger to his campaign on the issue.
Trump has said he opposes a nationwide abortion ban, and after the Supreme Court upheld access to the abortion pill earlier this month, Trump's campaign said “the matter has been settled.”
At the same time, Trump won the confirmations of three justices who all voted to overturn Roe. Since their decision, a large number of states have removed abortion rights, and it has become much more difficult for women in many parts of the country to obtain an abortion.
Democrats, including Biden and Harris, have warned Trump and the Republican Party could go further in a new term, by focusing on contraception, in vitro fertilization (IVF), the abortion pill or by pushing for a nationwide abortion ban.
“Let's be clear: Donald Trump owns every single abortion ban and policy that has taken away essential reproductive health care from women across the country,” said Rosemary Boeglin, communications director for the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
Democrats think the strategy of blaming Trump by tying him to state-level bans is a smart way to communicate with voters on the issue.
“Trump will go down in history as the only president who turned back the clock and took away freedoms, and he brags about that again and again. It is imperative that Americans associate Trump with this legacy, and understand that returning him to the White House means jeopardizing other rights,” said Alexandra LaManna, a former press aide to Biden on reproductive rights.
Public opinion polls are largely on the Democrats' side when it comes to abortion access. About six in 10 Americans said last month they believe abortion should be legal in most casesPew Research Centerquestionnaire. Moreover, aFox News pollIn March, 59 percent of Americans agreed that abortion should be legal.
As Biden trails Trump in swing-state and national polls, Democrats believe they can energize their supporters with the abortion message.
Yet polls also show that Democrats still have some work to do.
A New York Times/Siena CollegepollLast month, it emerged that one in five voters in battleground states believe Biden, rather than Trump, is responsible for ending Roe.
While Trump appointed the judges who made the decision, the change took place in 2022, when Biden was in the Oval Office.
It is fair to say that Biden and Harris have done everything they can to make it clear that Trump is responsible.
“Let's be very clear. There is one person responsible for this nightmare. And he's recognized and he brags about it. Donald Trump,” Biden said in April, condemning Florida's six-week abortion ban.
Harris doubled down on his comments at the EMILYs List national gala in May, saying Trump “hand-picked three members of the Supreme Court of the United States because he intended for them to overturn Roe. And as he intended, it happened.”
While Biden struggles to win over voters on other issues, such as inflation and the economy, Democratic strategists say the anti-abortion message is the right strategy.
“They are doing the right thing to hold Trump accountable for an outcome that two-thirds of all voters disagree with,” said Steve Elmendorf, a Democratic lobbyist and donor.
