Trump has a big problem with abortion in Pennsylvania

Donald Trump's decision to leave abortion talk to the states is a huge setback in Pennsylvania, poll shows.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported on Franklin & Marshall's survey of abortion in PA;

When asked whether Pennsylvanians wanted their preferred abortion law to be federal or whether each state should choose its own law, 69% chose federal law. That includes 58% of Republicans and 79% of Democrats.

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Requiring doctors to provide an ultrasound of a fetus before an abortion is approved by 46% of Pennsylvanians, including 58% of Republicans and 34% of Democrats. 48% of respondents in the country support the requirement to show ultrasound examination.

Similarly, 45% of Pennsylvanians said they believe a woman should wait one to three days before getting an abortion, including 58% of Republicans and 31% of Democrats, the poll found.

Culture war stuff isn't working on birth control in Pennsylvania either, with 89% supporting the ACA's requirement that birth control be covered by insurance, 79% supporting increased funding for clinics that provide free or low-cost birth control : 82% support requiring public schools to teach about birth control, and 81% support a nationwide ban on state and local governments being able to ban birth control.

The survey was conducted earlier in the summer, however abortion is a static problem. Support for reproductive freedom has only grown since the Dobbs decision.

Donald Trump's abortion and culture war talk isn't working in Pennsylvania, it's actually hurting his campaign. Pennsylvania is a purple state, but is more liberal on social issues than the closeness of the election suggests. The state is moderate, so there's a lot of consensus building built into Keystone State politics, which is why anyone who's far left or right tends to lose statewide.

Given that Kamala Harris has changed the makeup of Pennsylvania's likely electorate in a way that is likely to increase turnout among young voters, women and non-white voters, abortion could hurt Trump..

A one- or two-point swing in Pennsylvania is huge, and reproductive freedom as an issue is more than capable of delivering enough votes to sink Trump in the state.

Jason is the managing editor. She is also the White House Press Center and Congressional Correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a BA in Political Science. Her graduate work focused on public policy, specializing in social reform movements.

Awards and professional memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and the American Political Science Association