News of the Supreme Court’s historic betrayal of some 50 years of precedent on the issue leaked on May 3, 2022. Judging by the ads Republicans aired that month, they seemed to believe they had an issue they could leverage in the midterms. But by June, they had clearly concluded otherwise.
After the Supreme Court issued its ruling at the end of June overturning a constitutional right to abortion, Democratic ads on the topic grew every month until they nearly doubled in September and ballooned once again in the critical month of October.
If there was any doubt that Republicans ran from the abortion issue in the 2022 midterms, Ad Impact compared the amount of abortion ads aired by each party throughout the year, and puts that doubt to rest with one graph.
The graph:
Ad Impact notes that abortion became the second-most talked about issue in 2022 political ads, but the No. 1 issue in Democratic ads.
After Republicans took a beating on the issue in the midterms, some party leaders lamented not discussing the topic more, as if shoving their uniquely unpopular bans down the throats of voters would have worked to their advantage. But today, Republicans across the country still lack clarity on what position to coalesce behind and how to sell it to voters.
In all likelihood, the Ad Impact graphic on the 2024 cycle will reveal an even bigger disparity between the parties’ appetites for engaging on the topic.
After the Supreme Court issued its ruling at the end of June overturning a constitutional right to abortion, Democratic ads on the topic grew every month until they nearly doubled in September and ballooned once again in the critical month of October.
If there was any doubt that Republicans ran from the abortion issue in the 2022 midterms, Ad Impact compared the amount of abortion ads aired by each party throughout the year, and puts that doubt to rest with one graph.
The graph:
Ad Impact notes that abortion became the second-most talked about issue in 2022 political ads, but the No. 1 issue in Democratic ads.
After Republicans took a beating on the issue in the midterms, some party leaders lamented not discussing the topic more, as if shoving their uniquely unpopular bans down the throats of voters would have worked to their advantage. But today, Republicans across the country still lack clarity on what position to coalesce behind and how to sell it to voters.
In all likelihood, the Ad Impact graphic on the 2024 cycle will reveal an even bigger disparity between the parties’ appetites for engaging on the topic.