(TheLibertyRevolution.com)- Leading Democrats in Washington are hoping that the recent Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and the federal abortion protections will be a tipping point of sorts for the party in the upcoming midterm elections.
It seems that lawmakers such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are grasping at straws when they say they will make abortion rights a central part of the upcoming elections. After all, Republicans are highly favored to retake control of at least the House and possibly even the Senate as well following the November elections.
But, new results from a recent poll released Monday show that Democrats could be energized to vote in the midterms as a result of the Supreme Court decision.
The poll, conducted by NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist National, found that 62% of all registered voters said the ruling handed down by the high court would incentivize them to vote in the midterms in November. That’s a 12-point increase over respondents from the same poll just last month.
According to the poll, 78% of Democrats said they are now more likely to vote in the midterms. Both independents (53%) and Republicans (54%) are motivated to vote as well, but at much lower rates than liberals.
In addition, 47% of independents and 86% of Democrats said they’d vote for a candidate for the House or Senate who said they would support codifying the Roe v. Wade decision into federal law.
On the flip side, 38% of independent voters and 67% of Republican voters have said they would vote against a candidate for Congress who has said they would work to restore the federal right to abortion.
Taken all together, a slight majority (51%) of all voters in the U.S. said they’d definitely support a congressional candidate who would work to pass a federal law that would guarantee the right to abortion. Only 36% said they’d definitely vote against that type of candidate, with 13% saying they were still unsure.
Most people (57%) who were polled said they believed that the decision handed down by the Supreme Court justices last week was motivated by politics. Only 36% said they believed that the justices based their decisions on the law of the land.
Further, 89% of all Democrats as well as 55% of independent voters said they were very concerned that last week’s Supreme Court ruling could lead the high court to reconsider other past rulings such as those dealing with same-sex marriage and relationships as well as contraception.
A large 77% of Republicans and 42% of independent voters said they weren’t at all concerned.
It seems apparent that the Supreme Court decision has energized the Democratic base to vote in the midterm elections. It may have even convinced some independent voters to go to the polls and support liberal candidates.
But, will that sentiment still be there in four more months? And even if it does, will that alone be enough to swing the results back in the Democrats’ favor?
That’s quite a lot for liberals to expect, but they don’t have much other positive news to hang their hats on right now.