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Kansas abortion vote not really a shock at all

David Pakman Host of The David Pakman Show
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Shortly after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, conservative states like Kansas drew up amendments to solidify the ruling and impose more severe restrictions on abortion. But when Kansas voters rejected their state’s amendment by nearly 20 percentage points, many were wondering why more Republican voters didn’t turn out to support the measure. Straight Arrow News contributor David Pakman argues the result in Kansas could portend an unusual result in the coming November midterms:

Some are calling the recent vote in Kansas to preserve abortion rights a shock in the very red — dark red — state of Kansas. I don’t believe it’s very shocking. And I’m going to tell you why.

So to step back a little bit. Once the Supreme Court ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade, we knew it was going to be open season at the state level to much more aggressively, forcefully and definitively and completely ban abortion.

Now, there was one problem with that, which is the American people. Just your average American in terms of the population across the entire country is more in favor of abortion being legal today than at any point during the Roe v. Wade era. You go back 50 years now is when the American people are most in favor of abortion.

And so if the will of the people were done, were reflected in our laws, abortion would be legal in most cases — that’s what the people want…doesn’t mean you put anything to a vote…that’s not the issue. But the point is, the decision is very much out of step with the popular opinion in the United States.

But we knew they were going to start pushing at the state level for all sorts of abortion bans. And in Kansas, what was on the ballot in early August was an amendment to the Kansas constitution that would allow the complete and total banning of all abortions period. That amendment failed by 20 points, 20 points in the very red state of Kansas.

This tells us a number of things. Number one, it confirms the polling — extensive polling — that Americans are a pretty pro-abortion bunch — not as much as in some other countries, sure, but Americans are a relatively pro-abortion bunch. It doesn’t mean they all want abortions, or would wish abortions upon their family members, it just means they think it should be legal for the people affected to have it as an available procedure or treatment, depending on their conversations with their own doctors. That’s all that it means — doesn’t mean anyone has to go and get an abortion.

Some are calling the recent vote in Kansas to preserve abortion rights a shock in the very red dark red state of Kansas. I don’t believe it’s very shocking. And I’m going to tell you why. So to step back a little bit, once the Supreme Court ruled to overturn Roe v Wade, we knew it was going to be open season at the state level, to much more aggressively, forcefully and definitively and completely ban abortion. Now, there was one problem with that, which is the American people, just your average American in terms of the population across the entire country is more in favor of abortion being legal today than at any point during the Roe v. Wade era, you go back 50 years now is when the American people are most in favor of abortion. And so if the will of the people were done, were reflected in our laws, abortion would be legal in most cases, that’s what the people want, doesn’t mean you put anything to a vote. That’s not the issue. But the point is, the decision is very much out of step with the popular opinion in the United States. But we knew they were going to start pushing at the state level for all sorts of abortion bans. And in Kansas, what was on the ballot in in early August, was an amendment to the Kansas constitution that would allow the complete and total banning of all abortions period, that amendment failed by 20 points, 20 points in the very red state of Kansas. This tells us a number of things. Number one, it confirms the polling extensive polling, that Americans are a pretty pro abortion bunch, not as much as in some other countries. Sure. But Americans are relatively pro abortion budget doesn’t mean they all want abortions, or would wish abortions upon their family members. It just means they think it should be legal for the people affected to have it as an available procedure or treatment, depending on their conversations with their own doctors. That’s all that it means doesn’t mean anyone has to go and get an abortion. Okay, number one. That’s been that’s reflected in the Kansas vote. Secondly, in general, well, let’s back up. In general, the party that wins the White House loses the next midterm. And in general, running on abortion and guns is not a good deal for Democrats. Joe Biden won the White House in 2020 took it from a Republican. Historically speaking, Democrats should get crushed in November. Right now, it’s not clear that that’s going to happen. And as I’ve said before, when Democrats are run on abortion, it often doesn’t inspire Democratic turnout, but it inspires Republicans to come out and vote against the Democrat. When Democrats run on gun safety laws. It doesn’t inspire that many Democrats to come out and vote, but it inspires many Republicans to come out and vote against the Democrat. This year, it seems to be very different. When we look at polling polling, which looked very good for Republicans months ago, it looked like a red wave was coming. The very same polls have in some cases, equalized and in some cases reversed, where Democrats are now for the first time very slightly favored to actually keep control of the Senate after the November election, it’s almost a coin flip. It’s like 5248. But that’s very different than these numbers would typically look heading into a midterm. And it appears as though two of the primary reasons are number one, the brutal attack on abortion rights, including the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, and the state level of tax voters nationally are not liking that. And also on gun safety, endless prominent mass shootings over the last six to nine months. And at this point, even some Republicans are saying something has to be done. We can’t keep doing nothing. And as I’ve talked about before, they want to do mental health. Well, then why are you against funding mental health, they claimed the issue is doors, or ladders or Windows or whatever the case may be. But they don’t want to deal with the guns. We’ve tried. In a sense, so many things, we’ve really not tried what we need to try, which is dealing with the actual guns. And so there seems to be more of an appetite than I remember it anytime, in trying something. When it comes to restricting people’s access to guns, we have a second amendment that doesn’t change. But that doesn’t mean you have to be able to buy as many bullets as you want. It doesn’t mean an 18 year old needs to be must be allowed to buy whatever firearm they want. Else, it becomes a violation of the Second Amendment. None of that stuff is true. So we may see a dramatically different outcome this November compared to midterms past.

It’s not a guarantee. Everyone must vote, but the can This abortion vote is very much indicative of this

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