Journalism is a disgrace. Their job is to inform. They don’t. They have become a platform for their collective biases and prejudices, which are about as well-informed as the general public that they serve. Thus, when opinion polls are conducted on the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturning Roe, glaring contradictions stand out in public perceptions of Roe, Dobbs, and abortion. We may as well disregard the polls except as proof of the press’s dereliction of duty.
Take the recent Harvard-Harris poll after the announcement of the Dobbs decision. We certainly can hold two ideas in our heads at the same time, but what if they are contradictions? In the Harvard-Harris poll, 55% opposed the overturning of Roe, yet 72% would limit abortion to 15 weeks. So, they want abortion possibly up to birth which is the essence of Roe and the later Casey decision, but then say that they don’t. Go ahead, try to square that circle.
Let’s further pick apart Roe and Casey and Dobbs and the poll. Roe has a “health of the mother” standard wrapped into a trimester scheme. Casey replaced that concoction with an admonition against placing an “undue burden” on a woman’s choice. Either way, there’s enough room to authorize abortion at birth. That’s Roe/Casey, and where 55% are. . . until they aren’t.
Then we have Dobbs. It affirmed the constitutionality of the Mississippi law that allowed abortion up to 15 weeks, where 72% of the public stands. 55% or 72%, which is it?
The American press, what a mess, what an embarrassment.
RogerG
*The Harvard-Harris poll here: https://harvardharrispoll.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/HHP_June2022_KeyResults.pdf
*More on the poll in Charles Cooke’s column here: https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/harvard-harris-americans-dont-know-what-roe-did/