Axios’s Josh Kraushaar joined Fox News on Friday morning to discuss how the issue of abortion will likely play out in the 2024 GOP primary – the day after Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) signed a six-week abortion ban into law.
Anchor Dana Perino played the latest campaign ad from Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) and noted “The South Carolina Republican will need the support of evangelicals, excuse me, if he’s going to break out from the pack.”
“Josh Kraushaar is a contributor for Axios. And so here’s the Wall Street Journal poll asking about the importance of faith and religion to voters. Patriotism is at 73% belief in God. It’s very strong, pretty strong, at 65%, and religion at 60%. How is this shaping up for either Tim Scott or others that you see in the race on the Republican side so far?” Perino then asked.
“Well, Dana, Tim Scott has made faith the central part of his presidential exploratory committee, and that’s a key part of his appeal, his positivity, the fact that he is he’s authentically a Christian. He speaks his values,” Kraushaar replied, adding:
The big challenge Tim Scott’s going to face is on the issue of abortion, because evangelical voters largely want the most pro-life candidates in term to be to be running as the nominee. Tim Scott has a very strong pro-life record in the Senate, but he got himself in a little bit of trouble when he was campaigning in New Hampshire this week because he said he didn’t say he would support necessarily a federal abortion ban at first.
Then he settled on a 20-week abortion ban, which is not as strict as a proposal that Lindsey Graham, his colleague in the Senate in South Carolina, has also proposed. So there is a lane for Tim Scott to run as the evangelical candidate with a positive message. But he’s also getting tripped up on the one issue right now that evangelicals care the most about.
As the conversation continued, anchor Bill Hemmer asked about how the 2024 GOP primary might unfold.
“So you consider a few things now in a primary contest, Iowa and New Hampshire and then South Carolina, one, two, and three out of the gate. In Florida yesterday, Ron DeSantis signed a bill statewide that makes abortion after six weeks illegal. And what Tim Scott has said is that he would sign a ban at 20 weeks. And I think he said this week he would consider a 15-week ban. Who runs to the inside of that issue? How does he get people in Iowa to get behind his candidacy who, you know, will be conservative enough to show up at the caucus night?” Hemmer asked.
“Well, Bill, you just laid out the central challenge for a lot of Republicans running in the primary on the issue of abortion, where, you know, Tim Scott’s 20-week federal abortion ban proposal is kind of in the political sweet spot,” Kraushaar responded, adding:
But in the Republican primary, you have a candidate like Ron DeSantis looking to run for president who just signed a six-week abortion ban in his home state. So you have candidates that are to the right of Scott, to the right of Donald Trump, for instance, as well, on the issue of abortion. And there’s a tension between what it takes to win the primary by promising stricter and stricter regulations on abortion.
And that looks like it was Ron DeSantis’s calculation when he signed the six-week abortion ban in Florida. But there’s also the issue of electability now that the Democrats have won some key elections in swing states by attacking Republicans for being too tough, too pro-life, too supportive of these abortion bans. And Tim Scott is one of these Republicans who looks like a very electable candidate. But on the issue of abortion, you know, that’s the tricky test for all these candidates.
“It really is. And we didn’t mention Nikki Haley. Can you just give a quick thought on how she’s handled it so far?” Perino followed up.
“Nikki Haley has sort of kept the question open. She hasn’t committed to a certain weak ban for abortion, but she’s also one of the Republicans looking to appeal to moderate suburban voters and independents. And she’s worried that if she takes too hard line of a position on abortion regulations, that it could undermine that very, very strong argument she has,” Kraushaar replied.
“Fascinating. Thank you. You missed my earlier, in the commercial break, I had a big, big thoughts about this. Maybe I will share them,” Perino concluded.
Watch the full clip above via Fox News.
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