Trump tries to court both sides on abortion

Health Care

The Big Story

Trump toes the line on abortion

The former president is attempting to appeal to both sides on the issue of abortion by bashing his competitors for backing abortion bans while also claiming credit for the post-Roe era.

In an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” over the weekend, Trump went after his key GOP primary opponent, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, for signing a six-week abortion ban, calling it a “terrible thing.”

Abortion has been a losing issue for the GOP at the polls ever since Roe v. Wade was overturned last year by the Supreme Court, leading most Republican presidential candidates to shy away from commitments at the federal level if elected.

Trump’s criticisms of abortion bans are a risky move, especially as he competes in the Iowa caucuses, where white, evangelical voters command significant sway.

In an apparent effort to recalibrate after blowback to his "Meet the Press" comments, Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social and boasted how he “got the job done” on Roe by appointing a conservative supermajority to the Supreme Court that overturned the landmark abortion case.

The former president remains in a healthy position to take risks on the campaign trail. He leads the second most popular candidate, DeSantis, by more than 40 points, according to FiveThirtyEight, though this lead shrinks to 35 points among Iowa voters in a recent Emerson College poll.

While Trump won the 2016 presidential election without clinching the Iowa caucus, his relative absence in the state and criticisms of a core issue for a major voting bloc present opportunities for his GOP rivals to attack him and try to secure inroads with voters.

Read more on TheHill.com.

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