Republican strategists are exploring a shift away from “pro-life” messaging on abortion after consistent Election Day losses for the GOP when reproductive rights were on the ballot.

At a closed-door meeting of Senate Republicans this week, the head of a super PAC closely aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., presented poll results that suggested voters are reacting differently to commonly used terms like “pro-life” and “pro-choice” in the wake of last year’s Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, said several senators who were in the room.

The polling, which NBC News has not independently reviewed, was made available to senators Wednesday by former McConnell aide Steven Law and showed that “pro-life” no longer resonated with voters.

“What intrigued me the most about the results was that ‘pro-choice’ and ‘pro-life’ means something different now, that people see being pro-life as being against all abortions … at all levels,” Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said in an interview Thursday.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said the polling made it clear to him that more specificity is needed in talking about abortion.

“Many voters think [‘pro-life’] means you’re for no exceptions in favor of abortion ever, ever, and ‘pro-choice’ now can mean any number of things. So the conversation was mostly oriented around how voters think of those labels, that they’ve shifted. So if you’re going to talk about the issue, you need to be specific,” Hawley said Thursday.

  • @KevonLooney@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    261 year ago

    He’s just an idiot. He voted for this and now he doesn’t like it. Probably just wanted lower taxes without all the “policies”.

    • Kerrigor
      link
      fedilink
      191 year ago

      Even though under Republicans, anyone that isn’t super rich or a mega Corp has a higher tax burden overall.

        • @KevonLooney@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          31 year ago

          Voting for Democrats is like being forced to eat poorly cooked vegetables, because they’re healthy.

          Voting for Republicans is like being paid to eat expired food from the back of the refrigerator. And only rich people get paid.

      • hypelightfly
        link
        fedilink
        21 year ago

        And you’ve never voted for anyone else in your life before or since right? …