Democrats spotlight abortion in bid to save Newsom

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

58% : Planned Parenthood, NARAL and other groups, which have long been supportive of Newsom, are working overtime to amplify this message.
58% : Anti-abortion organizations have been quieter in the leadup to the election.
48% : Abortion rights groups like Planned Parenthood and NARAL, as well as the newly formed Women Against the Recall, are phone banking, knocking on doors, posting digital ads and social media messages and holding events with Newsom and other lawmakers as ballots are mailed to voters over the next few weeks ahead of the Sept. 14 recall election.
48% : Planned Parenthood has contributed more than $12,000 so far, with NARAL chipping in $10,000 to thwart the recall, according to campaign donations filed with the secretary of state.
43% : GOP strategist Rob Stutzman, who advised former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in the state's 2003 recall election, said it's in Republicans' interest to make the race about the pandemic response, crime, homelessness and other quality-of-life issues -- not abortion.
42% : A Republican governor's powers over abortion in California would be limited, considering the makeup of the Legislature and the state's statutory and constitutional protections for reproductive rights.
42% : But a governor could still cut state funding to clinics that provide abortion, or veto legislative proposals to expand access, said Laurie Sobel, an attorney and associate director of women's health policy for the Kaiser Family Foundation.
41% : "We're anticipating that Youngkin's opposition to abortion will be a millstone around his neck," she said.
39% : He appeared with Planned Parenthood Wednesday night to tout his record on protecting reproductive rights and warn of how an anti-abortion governor could reverse it.
38% : "It's more of these issues around funding that the governor could have power over, rather than the fundamental right to abortion," she said.
37% : When Planned Parenthood and other clinics faced federal funding cuts from the Trump administration's changes to the Title X family planning program, Newsom in 2019 doubled state budget investments in reproductive health services.
36% : Conservatives have historically had more success in firing up their base on the issue of abortion -- and using it in particular to turn out disengaged voters in off-year elections.
30% : Some insist the party should avoid focusing on abortion over fears of alienating moderates and feeding into GOP attempts to brand them as "baby killers," while others have been urging candidates to lean into the issue.

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