Mixed message: Republicans hunt for abortion playbook as Democrats go on offense

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

59% : Musgrave, like other anti-abortion advocates and Republicans, said GOP lawmakers should have spent more time highlighting the fact that many Democrats oppose placing limits on late-term abortion.
45% : The bill would provide more allowances for abortion than many anti-abortion activists believe are morally right while limiting the procedure earlier in pregnancy than permitted under the Roe v. Wade framework.
40% : The dust-up reflects how deeply divided Republicans remain about how to approach abortion heading into 2024 -- and the opening that has provided to Democrats.
40% : For Republicans, that meant suddenly walking a delicate line between an emboldened anti-abortion movement, with which many GOP lawmakers are personally aligned, and an electorate that regards many limits on abortion with suspicion.
40% : How Republicans should talk about abortion in the next election remains a topic of fierce debate within the party.
39% : The second style for approaching abortion involved leaning into the anti-abortion cause that animated the party's base after Dobbs.
37% : For Democrats, that meant going on offense against any and all Republican restrictions on abortion.
37% : Musgrave, previously a congresswoman from Colorado, said Democrats spent far more time leading the conversation about abortion than Republicans did during the midterm elections, which she said was a mistake.
36% : But other Republicans say focusing on abortion exposes a weakness for the party; they think GOP candidates would be better off sticking to economic and public safety issues.
35% : In swing state primaries, Republicans could face the more difficult task of appearing sufficiently anti-abortion to their primary voters without boxing themselves into a position they can't defend in a general election.
35% : This approach, used by GOP candidates such as Dr. Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania and Christine Drazan in Oregon, allowed them to avoid staking out positions on abortion that their opponents could use as a weapon.
33% : Beyond where in pregnancy to draw the line on abortion, Republicans have yet to answer many other questions about how they want to handle the issue.
32% : Graham proposed a measure in September that would ban abortion nationwide after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
30% : Graham championed the third approach to abortion politics: imposing limits on abortion that go beyond the 24-week ban in place under Roe but that fall short of the more ambitious proposals of the anti-abortion Right.
18% : Polling suggests most voters support outlawing abortion later in pregnancy; an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll from June 2021 showed 65% think abortion should be illegal in the second trimester and 80% think it should be illegal in the third.
15% : In Ohio, former GOP Rep. Steve Chabot faced a barrage of attacks over his opposition to abortion, including a billboard in his district, paid for by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, that claimed he wanted to outlaw birth control and abortion and "throw doctors in jail."

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