Democrats bet big on “reproductive rights” this election cycle, with Planned Parenthood even offering free abortions near their national convention. But the strategy didn’t pay off. Not only was abortion a flop with the electorate, it was Republicans—not Democrats—who pushed the winning women’s-rights issue: fighting the encroachment of biological men into women’s spaces and sports.
“We will get. . . transgender insanity the hell out of our schools, and we will keep men out of women’s sports,” Donald Trump said to roaring applause at his Madison Square Garden rally a week before the election.
It’s easy to understand the Democrats’ thinking. Legalized abortion access has surged in popularity since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022. In 2020, half of Americans said it should be legal in all or most cases; by 2024, two-thirds thought so. In the past two years, 11 states approved referendums enshrining permissive abortion laws into their constitutions. Still, in this year’s presidential election, half of the people who say abortion should be “legal in most cases” voted for Trump. Four years earlier, Joe Biden won those same voters by 38 points.
