Posted on 08/09/2023 8:52:37 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Yesterday morning, I took to Twitter (which I still refuse to call “X”) and predicted that Issue 1 in Ohio would fall short by a 55/45 margin.
Predicting that Issue 1 fails in Ohio today, probably with a 55/45 or so split. Opponents have made the debate entirely about abortion rights rather than the constitution and the huge early turnout suggests it's worked.https://t.co/kJgIRx67fS
— Jazz Shaw (@JazzShaw) August 8, 2023
It actually turned out to be around 57/43 (we’ll embed the final result widget below) but that was the general ballpark. That doesn’t make me some sort of clairvoyant. It was just how the polls and the early voting had played out. Twelve points isn’t really a “landslide” by any means, but you can learn a lot about the public impression of this battle from the way the legacy media portrayed it. Nobody was talking about a “loss for constitutional stability,” which is what it really was. The majority of headlines, including, of course, the Associated Press, described it as a victory for abortion rights.
Ohio voters on Tuesday resoundingly rejected a Republican-backed measure that would have made it more difficult to change the state’s constitution, setting up a fall campaign that will become the nation’s latest referendum on abortion rights since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned nationwide protections last year.
The defeat of Issue 1 keeps in place a simple majority threshold for passing future constitutional amendments, rather than the 60% supermajority that was proposed. Its supporters said the higher bar would protect the state’s foundational document from outside interest groups.
Voter opposition to the proposal was widespread, even spreading into traditionally Republican territory. In fact, in early returns, support for the measure fell far short of former President Donald Trump’s performance during the 2020 election in nearly every county.
The Washington Post handled it the same way. Countless other examples abound this morning. Of course, the word “abortion” appeared nowhere in the text of Issue 1. It was a proposal to raise the bar for amending the state constitution to 60 percent support rather than a simple majority. As we’ve discussed here previously, that’s something that’s already in place in several other states, so it wasn’t a particularly “radical” idea. In fact, the concept is very much in keeping with the Founders’ discussions regarding amending the federal Constitution. It should be hard to amend it, if only to keep such a foundational document from flipping and flopping every cycle as the winds of political opinions shift. And yet it was defeated in a fashion that defies the typical Left/Right divide percentages we normally see in the swing state of Ohio. Trump received more support there in 2020 than Issue 1 did yesterday.
And that should be telling us something important. This is a topic I attempted to address back in April in an opinion piece that wound up drawing a lot of fire from our conservative readers. But this week’s events in Ohio should be making this crucial issue crystal clear.
Even a quick glance at the national polls will tell the same story about the state of play in American politics today. Joe Biden is among the least popular presidents in modern American history. And recent investigations have made it increasingly clear that he is almost certainly among the most corrupt. Virtually nobody approves of his handling of the economy and a series of crises of his own making have much of the country up in arms. If we were living in a more “normal” time in political terms, the Republicans could nominate a rat carrying plague fleas next year and Joe Biden would still lose in a bloodbath like we haven’t seen since Nixon’s 1972 romp of 49 states over George McGovern.
But yesterday’s results in Ohio are all the proof you need that such a result is not going to happen and Biden (or whoever replaces him if he falls or drops out) could still hold on to the White House. That’s because, as I tried to point out in my aforementioned unpopular article from April, if we allow the Democrats to make next year’s election all about abortion, their voters and a number of moderates and independents will ignore the massive failures of this administration and the deplorable state of the country, hold their noses, and vote to keep the GOP out of power at any cost.
If you didn’t believe me four months ago, take a good look at the final numbers in the widget below and reconsider. I do not make light of the critical importance that pro-life support holds to the crucial conservative base of the GOP. But the sad reality is that support for a total or near-total ban on all abortions in America is now a minority position. A significant majority still oppose third-trimester abortions unless the life of the mother is at risk, but “heartbeat” bans pushing into the first trimester are a political loser at the polls. And it doesn’t help when we have Republicans in Congress pushing for sweeping bans at the federal level. This is the only thing that Democrats and their faithful transcriptionists in the mainstream media want to talk about because they certainly can’t run on Biden’s record. But it very well might be enough to get them over the finish line next year and the voters in Ohio demonstrated that yesterday in spades.
The abortion subject, mainly supported by women (who are also huge proponents of the trans movement), will kill this country, if it hasn’t already.
Bet fraud figured heavy in this one too.
What type of nation would decide its fate on whether or not it can kill its offspring?
Such a nation deserves absolute poverty, not divine blessing.
I believe it comes down to the economy. That’s what usually decides things.
The majority of women nowadays disgust me. The nurturers have become demons.
RE: I believe it comes down to the economy. That’s what usually decides things.
If the economy was and still will be the central issue, then riddle me this -— WHY DID THE REPUBLICANS NOT TAKE OVER THE SENATE IN 2022 AND BARELY TOOK OVER CONGRESS?
Many post-midterms survey showed that the younger voters were energized by two things — The DOBBS DECISION ON ABORTION, *AND* College loan forgiveness.
So yes, your observation is right... because we have enough voters who think like that DESPITE the economy, our nation deserves absolute poverty, not divine blessing.
Because there is a civil war raging in the GOP. The pro-aborts would like to say that it was abortion, but I don’t think any team can win when its members are each trying to make sure it doesn’t.
Mitch went into overtime sabotaging any candidate that he or the GOPe didn’t select.
But on the issue of abortion, wasn’t it ironic that Team GOPe member Lindsey Graham proposed a strict abortion ban on election Eve? Why would he do that? Hmmm.
Germans were thrilled with the Nazis....Until they weren’t...
The reason abortion wins, is the pro-aborts use every trick in the book to shut down any prolife material....If the 45 million blacks knew how eager the pro aborts and dems wanted them exterminated, they may not be eager to vote for their exterminators..........Even if they were rewarded, again......
I keep saying that we have to figure out hiw to repeal the 19th amendment.
Because every election we lose, it’s gotta be fraud, right?
Ohio is solid red. If they can’t get elections right, who can?
Maybe, just maybe, abortion is more popular than people posting on Free Republic realize.
And nobody’s listening because it’s never going to happen.
You cannot put that evil genie back in the bottle. Who’s going to vote on the repeal? Oh, that’s right....women.
They came out of the woodwork when voting to keep abortion legal in Kansas, 59% to 41%. I was disgusted.
If you support abortion just to get Republicans over the finish line, then the Lord is obviously absent in your life. Politics come and go, but your soul is eternal.
I think it did too.
Well said.
I suspect its isn’t the Republicans killing their unborn children.
It’s actually just Social Darwinism.
I have come to where I think we just might be better off without their offspring.
Because the keft totally wouldn’t do it again, right?
They’ve magically gotten honest, right?
Bet fraud figured heavy in this one too.
/\
When a nation lets CCP made machines control their elections...
CCP made machines control their elections
Don’t try to change my mind.
.
Ohio is solid red. If they can’t get elections right, who can?
//
When a state lets CCP made machines control their elections...
CCP made machines control their elections
Don’t try to change my mind.
.
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