September 03, 2024 11:55 AM UTC

Gabe Evans, Like Trump, is Still Confused on Voter Views About Abortion Rights

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• by: Colorado Pols

It’s no secret that the issue of abortion rights has been a primary driver for voters since the June 2022 Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade that removed federal protections for reproductive health care for women. In every state that has held a vote on abortion rights since the 2022 SCOTUS decision — red and blue states alike — voters have sided convincingly in favor of protecting access to reproductive care.

As The New York Times reported over the weekend, concern about abortion rights continues to rise up the list of important issues for voters across the country:

Although the economy remains the No. 1 issue for voters, a growing share of voters in swing states now say abortion is central to their decision this fall, according to New York Times/Siena College polls earlier this month. This represents an increase since May, when President Joe Biden was still the Democratic presidential nominee. And by a wide margin, more say they trust Vice President Kamala Harris over former President Donald J. Trump to handle abortion. [Pols emphasis]

Mr. Trump has repeatedly changed his position on the issue, despite appointing Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that found a constitutional right to abortion.

On Thursday, he even suggested that he might support a Florida ballot measure that would expand abortion rights — which he and his campaign quickly tried to walk back. But his shifting stance may reflect hope among Democrats, and concern among Republicans, that backlash to abortion restrictions may drive voters to the polls.

That may be especially the case for women — particularly now that Kamala Harris is at the top of the Democratic ticket.

For women younger than 45, abortion has overtaken the economy as the single most important issue to their vote. [Pols emphasis]

That last sentence is stunning. The economy has virtually always topped the list of concerns for voters in any given election cycle, in part because that’s what people are inclined to say first when polling firms reach them on the phone.

Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump has been all over the place on abortion rights and related issues such as in vitro fertilization (IVF). Here in Colorado, Republican congressional candidates have largely tried to avoid the abortion rights issue, with both Jeff “Bread Sandwich” Hurd (CO-03) and Gabe-ish Evans (CO-08) pretending not to remember how they voted on Proposition 115, a 2020 ballot measure in Colorado which sought to implement a 22-week abortion ban (and which was easily defeated at the polls).

As Heidi Beedle reported last week for the Colorado Times Recorder, Evans nevertheless still seems confused about where voters stand on the issue of abortion rights:

In Colorado’s hotly contested 8th Congressional District (CD8), which mirrors the presidential race in terms of competitiveness closer than any other in the state, U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo (D-CO) is facing a challenge from Colorado Rep. Gabe Evans (R-Fort Lupton). And unlike Trump, Evans has remained consistent in his opposition to abortion. In 2022, while running for his Colorado House seat, Evans made his position clear.

“I am running for the house legislature because I want to go into the state capital and weigh in on policies being made in the state,” Evans told former KNUS host Steffan Tubbs. “Unfortunately one of the policies that was passed by the legislature and signed by the governor is the most pro-abortion law in the entire nation — HB22-1279 — and it basically establishes abortion in the state of Colorado as a fundamental right and I find that ridiculous, not only because I am about as pro-life as they come, but because polling shows that over 70% of Americans, to include Democrats and folks that identify as pro-choice, think that there should be restrictions on abortion. Our out-of-touch leftist legislature here in CO, they just keep pushing further left and passing these radical policies that are just out of touch with the population.”  [Pols emphasis]

This is a silly argument for Evans to make. Some voters certainly do believe that there should be “some” restrictions on abortion rights, but that doesn’t override their belief in preserving abortion rights in general. Colorado voters have the opportunity in 2024 to support a Constitutional ballot measure — widely expected to pass easily — that would guarantee access to abortion rights in our state.

Republicans in 2024 have largely talked about abortion rights by opposing a potential national abortion ban in favor of “leaving it up to the states” — an amorphous policy position that basically means they are in favor of whatever draconian restrictions on reproductive care that can be shoehorned into place at a given time. As issues such as IVF have become more important to voters, it has placed Republicans in even more complicated conundrums as they try to placate a rabid right-wing base that absolutely does not represent the views of the majority of voters.

In the end, Republicans such as Trump and Evans can’t dance around on abortion rights and rely on nuance to save their political bacon. As we’ve explained many times in this space, you either support a woman’s right to make her own reproductive choices…or you don’t.