Democrats’ strategy of tying former President Trump and Republicans to abortion bans across the country appeared to fall flat with voters on Tuesday.

Democrats saw major victories on the issue in the 2022 midterms and Virginia’s off-year elections in 2023, but the party largely underperformed up and down the ballot on the issue with key groups on election night.

A CNN exit poll showed voters ranking abortion as the third most important issue, behind democracy and the economy. Additionally, the same CNN exit poll showed 65 percent of voters saying abortion should be legal in all or most cases, yet the same voters did not tie the issue to Trump and down-ballot Republicans, puncturing the case for Democrats that abortion could be Republicans’ electoral Achilles’ heel.

“I think the biggest obstacle to the Democratic messaging was that Donald Trump had made very clear he did not support a national ban on abortion, and yet, every major candidate ran on the platform of Donald Trump is going to pass a national ban on abortion,” explained National Right to Life President Carol Tobias. “So it just – it didn't ring true.”

The issue of abortion was seen as a galvanizing force during the 2022 midterms in the wake of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, blunting Republicans’ expected “red wave.”

The issue also proved to resonate with voters during the 2023 cycle, helping Democrats win complete control of the Virginia state legislature, pass a ballot measure to enshrine abortion protections into the Ohio constitution and helping Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D)........

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