Abortion's all the Rs need for the same loyalty from a big chunk of the population. They end up voting for all kinds of other stuff incidentally, just because the Rs are—thanks to some serious errors in our system of government that aren't likely to be fixed any time soon—the only viable pro-life party. So those voters will keep opposing action on climate change and voting anti-net-neutrality, simply as a side-effect.

[EDIT] wrote "pro-net-neutrality" rather than "anti" by mistake; fixed.

It's a shame that there is so much Money involved in each of those topics.

Plus jesus and gays. The second the Republicans produce an intellectual candidate the country will change profoundly. I feel the exact same way as you.

Meanwhile abortion and second amendment enforcement are enough to keep me voting Republican for years and years to come (and the occasional Libertarian).

The interesting thing is, fewer abortions happen under Democrat presidents than under Republican presidents. Something about pushing sex education and birth control that reduces abortions.

I don't exactly understand why you would vote Republican if you did not like abortions.

Typically, they want them to be illegal because they consider them morally close or identical to murder. One might not vote for the legalize-murder party just because the stats say fewer murder happen when they're in power, preferring to vote for make-murder-illegal party that'll try to outlaw it entirely.

That my fellow Dems so often paint this position as plainly stupid or obviously wrong is a frequent source of frustration for me, and why I usually just avoid engaging in discussion of the topic (whoops). Not accusing you of having done that, mind you, I just see it a lot.

Fair point.

Snopes rates "Abortion rates drop during Democratic presidencies and rise during Republican administrations" as false. [1]

And even if it were true (and it's not), the national legislatures is often the opposite party as the executive, and they're the ones that actually make the laws. (The real reality though is that the states are far more relevant in this area.)

[1] https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/abortion-rates-presidencie...

Different fact check than what I'm saying. They don't rise during Republican presidencies. They do fall at a slower rate.

Well, if we're being precise, your original assertion was something different altogether.

You claimed "fewer abortions happen under Democrat presidents than under Republican presidents", but that's still not really true. Two of the top four years for abortions per live birth (1979, 1980, 1981, 1984) had a Democratic administration. Three if you look at the previous year's President. [1]

[1] According to CDC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_statistics_in_the_Uni...

> The interesting thing is, fewer abortions happen under Democrat presidents than under Republican presidents.

I think you've confused abortions with deficits, in terms of things Republicans rhetorically oppose but in practice increase while in office.

Don't you feel guilty about global warming denial?