Most Americans Support Roe v. Wade —So Why Won’t Washington Listen to Them?
A reminder: President Trump, who has repeatedly vowed to nominate Supreme Court justices who would likely try to overturn Roe v. Wade, remains the current occupant of the White House—no matter how many anonymous aides pat themselves on the back for shuffling about the papers on his desk. Brett Kavanaugh, the carefully selected, boys’ club–elevated nominee who further delayed the abortion of migrant teen Jane Doe last year, is teed up for confirmation (despite allegedly repeatedly lying under oath, though that’s neither here nor there), threatening to tip the balance of the high court to “conservative.” As a result, he is poised to weaken environmental regulations, limit affirmative action, and, yes, possibly overturn Roe v. Wade.
And yet, according to a new poll, the vast majority of Americans still support the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision upholding a woman’s right to choose. Based on a sample of more than 2,000 Americans across the political spectrum, the results gathered by Axios and SurveyMonkey found that an overwhelming 71 percent would not like to see the Supreme Court make abortions illegal. Notably, that number includes 79 percent of so-called “Never Hillary” independents, 80 percent of suburban white women (and as we know too well, white women don’t always come through for other women at the polls), and 59 percent of rural voters, a group that has been known to back Trump. The Axios-SurveyMonkey poll also found that support for Kavanaugh is shaky: more people overall (48 percent) disapprove of his nomination than are in favor of it (44 percent).
These numbers expose a maddening disconnect between the Washington, D.C., political class and the voting public: The president is plowing forward with a master plan to shatter Roe v. Wade with presumed support for Kavanaugh, while the majority of Americans he claims to be working for—including the very women whose rights and health would be in danger—don’t agree with him. Trump is not only, arguably, the most politically extreme president in modern history, what with his espousing of some of the far-right’s ideas and conspiracy theories, but he’s also grossly out of touch with the masses—and despite the made-for-TV drama, his rally crowds are decidedly not the masses.
Elected officials are hired by the voters; they are, ideally, supposed to be working on behalf of the voters, but the schism between Trump’s agenda and the new Axios numbers isn’t the only one worth noting. Polls consistently say that there is overwhelming popular support for common sense gun reform (even among most NRA members!)—but politicians still can’t cobble together the courage to act on it due to their own self-interest of getting reelected (and factors like the NRA’s vast war chest and ability to deploy damning opposition ads). On these two supposedly tempestuous issues—gun reform and abortion rights—there is public support but a glaring lack of legislative action on the public’s behalf. Perhaps the most monumental example of the people’s voices not being heard in Washington? In two of the last five presidential elections, the winner of the popular vote did not win the presidency (Al Gore in 2000 and Hillary Clinton in 2016).
The Axios-SurveyMonkey data seems only the latest reminder that Washington needs to crawl out of its own proverbial ass and get a grip on reality—or else, as some midterm and special elections have already begun to indicate, voters will move on to candidates who will actually and honestly represent them—and not just themselves.
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