The GOP’s Senate campaign arm is responding to a bombshell Supreme Court leak on the likely demise of Roe v. Wade by circulating new polling data and messaging on abortion for Republican candidates, according to documents obtained by NBC News.
Polling conducted by On Message Inc., a GOP strategy firm with long ties to Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, appears to show voter support for messaging focused on “restricting late term abortions” rather than prohibiting abortions altogether.
The documents, which cite responses to focus group questionnaires, also direct GOP candidates to be a “compassionate, consensus builder” when talking about abortion, while targeting Democrats for “extremist views” and having an “obsession” with abortion rights.
In an emailed statement Wednesday, Scott told NBC News the NRSC has been polling and working with focus groups for “the last few months,” in an effort to bolster Republican candidates.
“No matter what the Supreme Court decides, what’s clear is that the Democrat Party is well outside the mainstream on the issue of abortion,” Scott said.
The GOP polling, however, appears to contrast with recent findings by a Washington Post/ABC poll, published Tuesday, that showed 58 percent of Americans say abortion should be legal in all or a majority of cases, with 54 percent saying the Supreme Court should uphold Roe v. Wade. Twenty-eight percent said it should be overturned.
Source: NBC
