After Sen. Ted Cruz delivered remarks at a campaign event this week, a CNN reporter asked the Texas Republican why he didn’t mention abortion rights. “I understand that’s what Democrats want to talk all day long about,” the senator replied.
Reminded that reproductive rights are important for many Texans, Cruz was unimpressed. “I recognize it’s what the press is obsessed with,” the GOP incumbent said. When the CNN reporter tried to shift the focus back to voters, the senator added, “I know that the press thinks that voters are what they’re obsessed with.”
This is a surprisingly common refrain from prominent Republicans, who seem awfully eager to tell the public how unimportant abortion rights are outside newsrooms. Donald Trump wrote online last week, for example, “Abortion has dropped way down as an issue.” The former president added in a recent interview that abortion is “not that big of an issue.”
There’s some compelling evidence to the contrary. The New York Times reported in late August:
Although the economy remains the No. 1 issue for voters, a growing share of voters in swing states now say abortion is central to their decision this fall, according to New York Times/Siena College polls earlier this month. This represents an increase since May, when President Joe Biden was still the Democratic presidential nominee.
When GOP officials and candidates assert without evidence that only journalists care about the issue, it’s more wishful thinking than serious analysis.








