Washington Post Reporter Marina Alfaro joins Cheddar Politics to break down how Republicans will handle messaging surrounding abortion rights heading into this fall's midterm elections. 

Cheddar Politics

Breaking Down the GOP's Midterm Strategy on Abortion Rights

welcome back to cheddar politics. We are going to break down what comes next for republicans in particular in the contentious abortion debate sparked by the leaked draft decision by justice Samuel Alito. So joining us now to break all of that down is Mariana Alfaro. She is a reporter for the Washington post Breaking news political team and the co anchor of Post Politics. Now we're gonna thank you so much for joining us. I have to get sort of the bird's eye view from you. We've seen some democrats try to make abortion rights the issue for the midterms were still six months out though. So like that's that's ballsy. We'll see if it plays off. But the president remains focused on inflation and the war in Ukraine and food prices and gas prices on the other side of the aisle, we saw republicans initially trying to change the subject to the leak. Where did the league come from? Who leaked it and not what it would do to abortion rates. But recently they're more willing to talk about getting rid of abortion. So to what extent? This is a big question, what extent do you think both sides are going to amplify this issue? Talk about it a lot. Make it the central issue as we get closer to the midterms and who's going to win at the end of the day? Yeah, we got a big preview of this last night. You know, after the vote came out, the first statement of the President put out was if you want abortion to become law, if you want to build on my desk, you gotta vote for pro choice democrats, which you know, is a big ask to put on voters. Um you know, democrats are hoping that this will be the issue and you know, I know that we've been saying oh inflation, the economy's that had dominated the election in november. The truth is, there was a poll from Monmouth that came out today and abortion has rocketed to the top of the issues that voters are concerned with. I think it was like 25% Which is the highest number we've seen for concerns on abortion since 2018. So, you know, you know, time passes, it's going to be a few months before the midterms. Our memories are a little um you know, quick, they we might forget quickly, but I don't think that democrats are going to let voters forget what republicans did, especially if you know, this is going to come back to the news um in june when the Supreme Court finally makes the decision, I think we need to talk a little bit about the legitimacy of the Supreme Court because one of the things that's at issue here is whether or not the american people who have generally given the Supreme Court higher approval ratings than any other body, That they are not going to respect that body anymore because it's going to look so partisan, right? 50 years of precedent doesn't matter because Republicans put a lot of justices on the court. Do you think there's a concern for voters for whom the Supreme Court was a voting issue in 2016 that the Supreme Court is just too is no longer sort of the independent body that it's supposed to be. Yes and that is a very fine line that both parties are touching on. I think Republicans kind of um not too they got away with it, but they did um you know, in 2016 with Trump, got elected and he nominated all these new justices. Um It was impaired when I think people in the american public wasn't super aware of how that worked. They weren't super aware that it could be so easy for a president to to change the landscape of the court so quickly. Um I think the american public now is more aware of it, especially now that row is on the chopping block. Um So I do think it's gonna become a thing that the public is going to be more willing to to speak out on and vote on and make decisions based on that. Uh Then again republicans were just really really good at um you know, getting judges confirmed, you know, moving things around um in a way that it's a process that's very invisible to the american public, we don't really focus on it. So now that the media and and you know politicians are talking about it more openly. I do think it's gonna become more of an issue in future elections. One of your colleagues at the post talked about this idea that the Senate yesterday which took this values vote on abortion right to try to uh you know, see exactly where everyone falls when it comes to this issue, that those votes are no longer particularly effective because there's very little sort of crossover in parties representing the opposite state, right? So you don't see a whole lot of Red state democrats anymore, or Blue State Republican? Yes. Blue state republicans, you really only see the partisan difference. Do you think there's a there's an issue here with trying to take these votes that it just doesn't matter. Um I mean, it's definitely the kind of boat that, you know, senator schumer or um you know, the challengers for like different of these like Blue state republicans can use on the campaign trail. But again, as you mentioned, the impact of this is not um why we would like what the parties want them to be. You know, I think democrats were hoping for us Susan Collins um switch around or like for mitt Romney, maybe two to vote in favor, but that's just not happening anymore because it's signal virtually maybe. Um and at the end of the day, um those senators know what it means to go back to their districts and say, oh, I voted for this and and you know, we saw that the the flashback that college got, you know, she had like someone right outside her house, you know, vote for this. I don't think she really cares that much anymore. You know, it doesn't carry as much weight as we did before just because they can manage their own narrative so quickly now with all the media and all the twitter and all that stuff. Well in the Senate, right, elections are first six years and she was just reelected. So it's not, you know, it's not as much of a sort of political contention. I do think. I think that it's interesting that both Susan Collins and lisa murkowski are pro abortion rights republicans in that conference Have said that they would vote for a clean bill, right, a just straight up straight, you know, Roe vs Wade is the law of the land, but that's still and so did Joe Manchin that still doesn't get anywhere because it's still only 52 votes. There's been discussion about nuking the filibuster. But I saw one reporter saying that it would be pretty much a mistake to do that at this point. Because how much can you get done before the election? Do you think the democrats are even seriously considering that at this point or are they sort of it's holding off and saying like, okay, we're gonna keep taking these show votes, we're gonna keep talking about about this to the voters. But at the end of the day, we really can't do anything. Yeah, nuking the filibuster right now would definitely not be the good college just because it's so fragile right now that the chances of democrats holding onto the Senate majority, that, you know, if we nuke the filibuster, if it's gone right now, what could happen in november? What, you know, senator, Senate minority leader mitch McConnell said it is possible that we could make abortion ban of federal law. It's not possible right now because of the filibuster, you know, they they don't have the 60 votes either, just as Democrats didn't have the 60 votes to make it a lot. Um but if that is gone, say could easily change. Um so Democrats just don't have the running against the clock and Republicans are hoping that the clock runs out. Okay, Mariana, my last question for you have about a minute left is about abortion as an issue on the ballot right? Are democrats in some ways shooting themselves in the foot by saying, hey, voting more of us and we can fix this because they haven't fixed it so far. It is that kind of thing where they're saying, you know, now, it's on the voters, the voters who have to fix this and it's frustrating for voters to see that constantly over and over again because this is something we heard two in 2018, Um I wouldn't say they're shooting themselves in the food. I think that they um right now have the messaging that they need to, you know, encourage young voters to come out in november. Um but you have to see something change. Um It can't keep going, like you can't collect all these democrats at the end of this year and then nazi ability to find stuff. Um So it's definitely, you know, one of their last chances to prove that they can actually get this done. Um is there keep putting it on people's place instead of doing their job? Oh, this has been so insightful. Thank you so much. I especially love that new polling information. Mariana Alfaro is a reporter for the Washington post, Breaking news political team and the co anchor of Post Politics. Now, thank you so much for joining us.