‘Democrats Could Buck Historic Trends’: Melber Breaks Down Implications of Women Registering to Vote in ‘Droves’

MSNBC’s Ari Melber discussed new data published in the New York Times showing women registering to vote in “droves” following the end of federal abortion rights in the U.S. with guests Joan Walsh of the Nation and Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post on Monday.

“And you realize these are tough choices and nobody’s making them in a cavalier fashion. And I actually don’t want to make them for anybody else. I mean, I think that’s part of why people have coalesced around Roe,” concluded Walsh after a lengthy discussion on the topic.

“Some people might judge late-term terminations if they don’t know the circumstances, which are almost always dire. But it’s become like this is being done in our name. And I think women and as Eugene said, definitely a lot of men are like, this is not what we thought we wanted,” Walsh argues the real-life impact of abortion restrictions is changing voters’ minds.

“Right. And that’s why I know I mean, I think we’re all referring to different religious beliefs. And sometimes when you take a certain word out and insert a different religious belief, the thought experiment or the clarity comes through. Right? Which again, is not to diminish. People have their strong feelings,” responded Melber.

“Joan, with the 30 seconds I have left I want to read from The New York Times, quote, ‘Women are registering to vote in numbers I’ve never witnessed. I’ve run out of superlatives to describe how different this moment is, especially in light of the cycles of tragedy and eventual resignation of recent years. This is a moment to throw old political assumptions out the window and to consider that Democrats could buck historic trends this cycle,’ from an opinion piece, but one that raises that same data.”
“Joan, your final thought in this discussion,” added Melber.

“Tom is a very sober writer and pollster, and I was actually surprised to see that, you know, how you click on something. You’re like, Who wrote that? I want to see that. I want to see the byline that that’s real. He’s seeing that he’s not shilling. So for Democratic women, it’s exciting,” Walsh concluded.

The op-ed referred to in the conversation was by Tom Bonier a Democratic political strategist and the C.E.O. of polling firm TargetSmart.

Bonier breaks down the numbers, writing:

What my team and I did find was large surges in women registering to vote relative to men, when comparing the period before June 24 and after.

The pattern was clearest in states where abortion access was most at risk, and where the electoral stakes for abortion rights this November were the highest. The states with the biggest surges in women registering post-Dobbs were deep red Kansas and Idaho, with Louisiana emerging among the top five states. Key battleground states also showed large increases, including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio, which are all facing statewide races in which the fate of abortion access could be decided in November.

Watch the full clip above via MSNBC

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