The Republican party chairman has warned that candidates must tackle the abortion issue “head-on” to win back the presidency in 2024.
Ronna McDaniel said on Sunday that Democrats have turned the issue of abortion into a rallying cry following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade last summer, while Republicans have tried to avoid the issue.
But if Republican presidential candidates instead challenge Democrats on their beliefs, the party may be able to win back swing voters, McDaniel said on FOX News Sunday.
However, recent polls suggest that a majority of independent voters, and even a handful of Republican voters, support abortion in most if not all cases.
And her comments just days after the traditionally red states of Nebraska and South Carolina passed measures banning abortion.
Ronna McDaniel said on Sunday that Republicans must tackle the abortion issue ‘frontally’ to win back the presidency in 2024
McDaniel discussed the upcoming 2024 presidential election with FOX News Sunday host Shannon Bream, acknowledging that Republicans failed to win back the Senate — and win only the narrowest majority in the House — because of the abortion issue.
“What I will say is the biggest takeaway we’re taking is that independents haven’t broken our way, which has to happen if we want to win in 2024, which usually causes the red wave,” she said.
“And abortion was a big problem in key states like Michigan and Pennsylvania,” McDaniel continued. “And so the guideline that we’re going to give our candidates is that you have to tackle this head-on.”
She noted that last year the Democratic Party spent $360 million campaigning for abortion rights during the midterm elections, “and a lot of our candidates across the board refused to talk about it, thinking, ‘Oh, we can just talk about the economy. and this great matter,” and they can’t.”
Instead, McDaniel suggested that Republican candidates put Democrats on the defensive by asking if they support late abortion, which some view as infanticide.
Which abortion is a bad idea for the Democrats? Nine months? Eight months? Seven months?’ she asked rhetorically.
She then asked if people should get an abortion “if it’s a girl” or if people who oppose it for religious reasons should support “tax-funded abortions,” saying, “There was Joe Biden years ago.
“They can’t even articulate abortion, that’s a bad idea,” McDaniel said of the Democrats. “So I think you need to put them on the defensive and articulate where you stand, and that’s going to be that critical message that we need to get out…before 2024.”
She also told FOX News Sunday host Shannon Bream that the Republican party needs to stay united
McDaniel also told Bream that it is important for presumed frontrunner Donald Trump and other candidates to participate in primary debates, saying that all candidates should pledge to support the final nominee.
She explained that unity is important for Republicans to win back the White House as Biden and Democrats try to portray the party as broken.
“I think one of the other takeaways we took from the 2022 midterm elections is we just don’t need independents, we need every Republican,” McDaniel said. “And we need to get every Republican together.”
She said that during the midterm elections, some Republicans refused to vote for their party’s nominee “and that was a big factor in why we lost some important Senate races.”
And, McDaniel said, Biden was “right” that “we can’t win if we’re not united.”
“If Republicans don’t vote for other Republicans, we’re not going to win,” she said. “And we don’t just need all Republicans, we need independents.”
Abortion rights activists are pictured before the Supreme Court ahead of last year’s historic Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling
Anti-abortion activists also protested for an end to the legal right to abortion
But one poll A February survey conducted by the University of North Florida found that 75 percent of state residents opposed the six-week ban, including 61 percent of Republicans.
A whopping 64 percent of Americans also think abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to the latest Public Religion Research Institute data (PRRI). Sixty-three percent disagreed with the decision to overthrow Roe.
Sixty-eight percent of independent voters said abortion should be legal in most or all cases, according to PRRI, as did 90 percent of Democrats and 36 percent of Republicans.
And some 21 percent of independents said the abortion issue was a deal breaker — they would only vote for a candidate who shared their views.
Meanwhile, 30 percent of respondents think abortion should be legal at all stages of pregnancy, 34 percent think it should be legal in most cases, 25 percent think it should be illegal in most cases, and 9 percent thinks it should be illegal in all cases.
Only 9 percent of Americans think abortion should be illegal in all cases and 25 percent think it should be illegal in most cases.
In recent days, abortion bans in normally conservative Nebraska and South Carolina each fell one vote short of passing their legislatures amid debate on the issue by Republican state lawmakers.
Abortion now remains legal in Nebraska up to 20 weeks gestation and legal in South Carolina up to 22 weeks.
Thirteen other states have bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy. They are Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
And four other states have bans during pregnancy but are legally blocked by the courts from enforcing it.