Trump said, 'We did that' on abortion. Did he give Biden a bumper sticker talking point?

Donald Trump has said this about his position on abortion: "We did that." What did he mean? And does it give President Joe Biden a bumper sticker line of attack?

The former president, who is the 2024 presumptive Republican presidential nominee, was speaking about the voiding of the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. In reality, it was a 6-3 U.S. Supreme Court decision that did Roe in, but Trump took credit because he appointed three pivotal justices to the current high court during his single White House term.

"It was an incredible thing, an incredible achievement," Trump said of Roe's end while in Atlanta on April 10. "We did that. And now the states have it, and the states are putting out what they want."

It may also be an "incredible" opportunity for Biden's re-election campaign.

"Just today, Trump called his overturning of Roe 'an incredible thing' and 'pretty amazing," Biden-Harris 2024 said in a statement on April 10. "Far-right, extreme activists who’ve spent their careers fighting for a national abortion ban continue to believe Donald Trump will ban abortion if he’s elected — and have said as much this week."

So, who has the advantage after a dizzying week of political back-and-forth? Here are three things to know.

Campaign 2024: Florida Democrats blame abortion 'nightmare' on Donald Trump; he blames Lindsey Graham

1. Abortion issue has been a political galvanizer for Democrats

In polls and at ballot boxes, abortion is an issue on which Democrats have shown enormous strength. Roe's overturn in June 2022 is one reason many pundits, and even Republican strategists, say the expected red tsunami in that year's midterm elections fizzled.

Even in red states, like Ohio and Kansas, voters opposing abortion have upheld ballot items protecting reproductive freedoms and rejected efforts to curtail access to pregnancy termination services.

A KFF Health Tracking Poll released last month found that voters who favored access to abortions tended to be "disproportionately younger, Democratic-leaning." But among all voters, the poll found that 69% favored access to abortions in either all or "most cases," while 26% said it should be illegal in "most cases" and just 5% stated support for a complete ban.

Trump showed a clear concern that the abortion issue could be politically costly this November.

In one social media post, he conceded that "Many Good Republicans lost elections because of this issue." By punting the issue to the states, he said, Republican candidates are "now free to run for" office by focusing on the southern border and other issues more electorally fruitful for them.

And he scorched Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina for, Trump claimed, doing a "disservice" to the GOP and the country by seeking federal legislation to set a national standard.

"I blame myself for Lindsey Graham, because the only reason he won in the Great State of South Carolina is because I Endorsed him!" Trump posted.

2. Trump said, 'We did that.' But, now what?

Trump's position, as he stated this last week, is that he is "proudly the person responsible" for ending the Roe v. Wade era in which a woman's right to decide whether to have an abortion or not was largely respected.

Then it gets muddy.

On Monday, April 8, he took a 19th century-like popular sovereignty argument saying it's up to each state to determine what its abortion rules will be.

"The states will decide by vote or legislation, or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land," Trump said via video posted on his Truth Social platform. "In this case, the law of the state."

But on Wednesday, April 10, when Arizona's Supreme Court ruled that the state can ban abortion based on an 1864 territorial law, Trump said the high court went "too far." He called on Arizona's governor and legislature to "straighten" it out. But he did not say what remedy he backs.

Ditto for Florida, where the governor and state Legislature have enacted 15- and six-week abortion bans. But Trump said he believes voters will "change" that in November. As a Florida resident, Trump will have a say as a voter but he has not stated his position.

Even so, he believes the seemingly contradictory swings from state to state and the likelihood of a patchwork of differing laws on a key healthcare issue for American families is a "perfect system."

While speaking at Mar-a-Lago with House Speaker Mike Johnson on Friday, April 12, Trump said a national abortion ban from Congress is not necessary because "what we did is giving it back to the states."

He added there is "some beautiful harmony" in which the the states "are working very brilliantly, in some cases conservative and in some cases not conservative," but he added "it's working the way it's supposed to."

On Saturday, Trump did not delve into the issue during a rally in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania.

3. How are Democrats capitalizing?

The irony is that Trump's statement — "We did that" — offers Democrats a play on the anti-Biden gas pump "I did that" stickers pinned so they point at the price window.

Biden-Harris 2024 Campaign Manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said this month that the campaign would henceforth remind voters that "Donald Trump brags about being the one to overturn Roe. He owns every single cruel ban in the country. He solely owns this."

On Thursday, Biden-Harris 2024 unveiled an ad blitz in Arizona that the campaign said was a "seven-figure investment into Arizona television and digital to remind voters that Donald Trump is responsible for overturning Roe v. Wade and unleashing bans like Arizona’s."

On Friday, as Trump readied to host House Speaker Mike Johnson at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, the Biden team said, "Johnson and Trump are making it clear to anyone watching: A MAGA-controlled White House and Congress would be the end of women’s right to choose."

Florida Democrats and the Biden campaign say they believe the abortion issue will make the Sunshine State a competitive field in the November general election — especially as Amendment 4 to protect reproductive rights will be on the ballot.

"We definitely see Florida in play," said Rodriguez earlier this month.

But a USA Today/Ipsos poll of Florida voters issued this week seemed much less encouraging.

Asked to list the top issue in this year's political contests, 60% cited inflation, 29% housing, 23% immigration and 18% crime. Abortion and contraception ranked fourth with just 17%.

Antonio Fins is a politics and business editor at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at afins@pbpost.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Trump on abortion: "We did that." How this helps Biden's 2024 campaign