Dem
51
GOP
49
For many Democrats, abortion is an easy issue. It is between a woman and her doctor. It is not between a woman and her congressman. But Joe Biden has been somewhat hesitant to come out and say that point blank, and progressives are starting to feel that he is going to make a distinction between "good" abortions (because the woman was raped) and "bad" abortions (because the couple didn't bother to use contraception). They are very unhappy with this backsliding and feel that the government should not play any role in deciding when a woman gets an abortion. It's up to the woman and her doctor and no one else.
Also, when Biden talks about reproductive health care, he often talks about IVF rather than abortion on demand. While progressives have no problem with any of the IVF procedures, Biden's talk about it seems to muddy the waters for them. It is making them nervous. Jamila Perritt, president of Physicians for Reproductive Health, said: "The president is part and parcel of the culture of stigma and shame that surrounds abortion care." Some progressives have noted that he skipped the word "abortion" during his SOTU speech, even though it was in the prepared text.
Biden has been around the track a couple of times and knows exactly what he is doing. He realizes that the electorate is more conservative than progressives would like it to be and he needs a lot of votes from people who are not progressive, especially Black and Latino voters, many of whom are fairly conservative, actually. Biden is also a practicing Catholic and he has never been at ease discussing abortion at any time during his long career. As a young senator, he said that Roe v. Wade went too far, for one example. To take another, as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he focused his questions to Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork on contraception, not abortion. Biden only became fully pro-choice during the 2020 campaign.
Biden's campaign staff is pushing the idea of "actions speak louder than words." As president, he has worked to expand access to abortion and his recent budget has language to repeal the Hyde Amendment, which would allow federal funds to be used for abortion. Biden also knows that progressives have nowhere else to go. Sure, they could vote for Jill Stein or Cornel West, elect Donald Trump, and then cry in their wine when he signed a bill to ban all abortions nationwide. Biden knows that very few of them will take the risk.
One problem the Democrats have that the Republicans don't is that a lot of Democrats want it all. If Biden does something on abortion or Israel or something else they don't like, they start threatening to stay home or vote third party. Sometimes they actually even do it. This has been true for years, going back to the 92,000 people who voted for Ralph Nader in Florida in 2000, thus allowing George W. Bush to win the state by 537 votes and giving him the presidency.
All Republicans know that Donald Trump is a racist and sexist, has committed sexual assault multiple times (and has even admitted it on tape), has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to invade any country he would like to add to the Russian Empire, changes his fundamental views as often as some people change their underpants, has been married and divorced more times than their pastor approves of, and has many other flaws. But he gave them three conservative Supreme Court justices, so they overlook his many, many character and policy failings. Many Democrats don't do that. It's one strike and you're out. You're bad on Israel? I'm not voting. (V)