On abortion, voters still lean to the wobbly middle
That ambiguity follows another national political reality. Americans have been wobbly on abortion since long before the Supreme Court's landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion nationwide -- yet current polls show us moving more in favor of abortion rights.
A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll conducted June 8-11 shows solid growth in the number of Americans who say abortion should be legal or legal most of the time -- to 56% in the latest poll from 49% in September 2008.
Opposition to abortion is strongest in regard to the third trimester of pregnancy and weakest in regard to the first trimester. In between is the wobbly middle ground of public opinion that has tried without much lasting success to strike a balance between the two highly prized values of "life" and "choice."
Americans have managed to maintain both in a Jell-O-like compromise that totally pleases neither side -- which also is a sure sign of a true compromise.
But those early weeks of pregnancy comprise the phase targeted by the new wave of strong anti-abortion bills that Alabama, Missouri and other states have passed since conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation, which has raised new hopes for opponents of Roe v. Wade.
And that has led to more drastic positions on the Democratic side, where progressives such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York have pulled almost all of the 2020 presidential field to view government-funded abortion as an issue of income inequality: Why should low-income women be penalized, as Biden now asks, just for being poor or living in a conservative state?
Good question, in my view. But Biden also is wise to go slow. Democrats need to keep their progressive wing energized, but they also need to maintain and build victories in districts that formerly voted for Trump. Hillary Clinton's campaign was lost largely in the upper industrial Midwest, a region that formerly voted for President Barack Obama and where polls often show Biden's appeal besting Trump's.
The progressives may be irritated by Biden's moderate, pragmatic approach. But they, too, want to beat Trump. As a result, I expect that wobbly middle -- and those who know how to appeal to it -- to look better and better.
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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.)
(c) 2019 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
