Across Ohio, Republicans and Democrats are gearing up for their next political challenge. In November, voters will cast their ballot either for or against enshrining women’s reproductive rights into Ohio’s constitution.
Chris Devine is an associate professor of political science at the University of Dayton. His research and teaching focuses on campaigns and elections, political parties, public opinion, and the U.S. presidency.
Recently, Devine spoke with WYSO’s Kathryn Mobley and he says Ohio will continue to capture national attention:
Prof. Chris Devine: The eyes of the country were on Ohio. I think it's very telling that President Biden issued a statement that night just as the results were coming in, as the outcome was becoming clear. How often do you see a president of the United States of either party commenting on a state constitutional amendment vote, one that happens in August? It tells you something about how important this vote was nationally. So I think it does a couple of things. One thing is it's a caution to legislators in other states, particularly Republican states, who have an interest in raising the threshold. They might say that it's not worth the effort. They might think that their attempts to raise the threshold will fail as well. But it might take away some of the enthusiasm. It might make them look for other ways to accomplish that goal.
The other national implication that I see is in terms of affecting how campaigns will be run. This result, the failure of Issue 1, certainly emboldens Democrats in particular to emphasize abortion in their campaigns. The Biden campaign, heading into 2024, just for example, has been leaning into the abortion issue, (they) have seen it as a winner for the Democratic side. Of course, they should be cautious. That Issue One, was not specifically about abortion, but we're all familiar with the messaging on this really from both sides. That was in many ways the focal point.
Kathryn Mobley: What do you think Republicans and Democrats can learn from all of this, in the wake of Issue One’s demise?
Prof. Devine: They could learn some lessons about what voters think about this issue again, particularly in a red state, to see where in Ohio which counties voters rejected Issue One. Yeah, there are a lot of Democratic counties, Franklin in Cuyahoga and Hamilton, for example. But there are a lot of suburban counties where we're seeing this, too. So Delaware, just north of Franklin, in the Columbus area, a really fast growing suburb. But also, as our listeners will appreciate here, Greene County, again, at least the current vote as well as Clark County rejected Issue One. So if we're thinking about how this might play into the vote in November, one thing it suggests is that there are some Republicans who will vote for Donald Trump, who will vote for J.D. Vance or Mike DeWine, but they will not vote to advance pro-life legislation or increase restrictions on abortion in the state [of Ohio].
