The recent vote in Ohio is just one of a string of cases where voters show they mostly support abortion access to some extent (1). Polls show the same. (2) So why do Republicans (specifically Republican politicians, not necessarily Republican voters) keep trying to do something unpopular?
My (perhaps cynical) view of Republican politicians is that they’re the “do anything to win” party. They would take any stance and pull any trick if it would give them a better chance of winning. So why are they so stuck on a losing issue?
Republican electoral fortunes rely on the Evangelical Christian vote. Without them, they lose most of the time. But in the 70s, some Republican strategist realized they could use them to win, so this happened. It’s a worthwhile read.
Basically they realized that here was a giant bloc of people who were kinda easy to manipulate (and pretty racist). That’s the Modern Republican target demo in a nutshell.
For those unaware further reading on this is the Southern Strategy.