Trump’s latest abortion stance presents challenge for potential running mates | CNN Politics

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

69% : “We had a Great Victory,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
62% : Unaddressed in her social media post Monday, though, was the former president’s support for exceptions for rape and incest in anti-abortion laws – the kind left out of the ban she has defended in her own state.
54% : But in a statement to CNN on Tuesday, the New York Republican sided with Trump, calling him “the most successful pro-life President in history.”
49% : At an SBA Pro-Life America event in June marking the first anniversary of the Supreme Court decision to end a constitutional right to an abortion, Rep. Elise Stefanik told the room that the next front in the battle over abortion would be “a primary question of public policy for state, local, and yes, federal policymakers.”
47% : While Noem was quicker than most Republicans to voice support for Trump on Monday, she has also called herself “an absolutist” on abortion and said her state’s ban on the procedure was a model for the country.
47% : Trump has floated Lake’s name in private, including at a New York fundraiser, where he quizzed donors about his vice presidential shortlist.
42% : It’s unclear how Trump will define that criterion.
40% : Many of those in the mix have spent their political careers as unyielding opponents of the procedure and unflinching allies of the anti-abortion movement.
34% : But Rubio, whom Trump regularly discusses among allies as a potential running mate, has also said he would support legislation that includes some exceptions because “I recognize that’s not a majority position.”
32% : Trump, who has at times expressed disbelief at Republicans who oppose exceptions, has indicated he would look unfavorably on a candidate who doesn’t support them, at times characterizing it as a nonstarter.
31% : Trump angered several anti-abortion leaders this week by refusing to back a federal abortion ban while embracing exceptions that Republicans throughout the country have for years opposed as morally questionable.
30% : His support for the post-Roe v. Wade status quo – where states like Texas are free to outlaw almost all abortions and others like California can legalize the procedure in all instances before viability – is a position Trump arrived at out of political expediency as Democrats ready millions of advertising dollars to remind voters who is responsible for the loss of federal abortion protections.
29% : CNN  —  South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem said Donald Trump was “exactly right” to want states in charge of abortion access in America.
29% : In private conversations with advisers and allies, Trump regularly asks where specific individuals stand on the issue and is particularly keen on learning their position on exceptions for victims of rape and incest and when the health of the mother is in danger.
26% : Those familiar with the vice presidential search say Trump is closely studying how his potential picks have approached the divisive issue in the past, believing it’s one of the few issues Democrats could successfully exploit.
22% : Now, Trump sees abortion as a potentially damaging issue for Republicans to navigate as he seeks a return to the White House.
22% : Among the anti-abortion leaders speaking out against Trump was Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, who said she was “deeply disappointed” in the former president’s position.
20% : The reality is a stark reversal from the last time Trump landed on Mike Pence for his running mate eight years ago in hopes the Indiana governor’s staunch opposition to abortion could assuage fears from the Christian right about the thrice-married Manhattan socialite who once declared himself “very pro-choice.”
11% : Trump on Monday lashed out at Graham over the legislation that he filed after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and that has gone nowhere in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

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