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?
Yeah here’s a take that resonates with my cynicism about Republican politicians. They literally see it as a way to get more numbers in the long run because they know it disproportionally affects poor people (ei forces them to have more kids) and they know they can get those people to vote for them through other manipulation.
Seems like a pretty long con though right? The same cynicism tells me these politicians just care about short term wins.
Interestingly, Democrats have historically had an advantage in the lower income brackets over Republicans. There’s a tipping point for the ultra wealthy to swing back to Democrat. This article is a bit older, but it’s useful to predate Trump and a bit of the weirdness that has brought with party lines (although my brief search says it still tends to be this way). The wedge issue is much more likely the point of policies like this to get the single issue voters support.
https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2012/09/26/161841771/how-income-divides-democrats-republicans-and-independents