Republicans tried to sidestep the issue of abortion. Now they're seeking a reset.

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

49% : At the same time, the percentage of Americans who say abortion will be very important to their midterm votes rose from 43% to 56% from March to August, according to Pew Research, a change driven by Democrats motivated by the issue.
44% : Specifically, he said, his polling showed that by 70% to 30%, voters opposed candidates who supported abortion without restrictions up until the moment of birth.
44% : GOP candidates have been coached by the National Republican Senatorial Committee to soften their positions on abortion -- and to hit Democrats back.
43% : The poll showed 41% of likely voters surveyed said the Dobbs decision, which did away with constitutional protections for abortion, made them more likely to vote for a Democrat; 24% said it made them more likely to back Republicans.
43% : While voters are splintered over whether abortion should be restricted and under what circumstances, they are mostly united in their view that the procedure should be legal in some cases, according to pollsters and operatives across the political spectrum.
42% : Not only did Masters reinvent his position on abortion in Arizona; GOP candidates in Michigan and Minnesota have removed or rewritten abortion positions on their webpages, as well.
41% : In the wake of the Dobbs decision, GOP operatives at the national and state levels advised candidates to stay focused on the economy rather than get drawn into battles over abortion.
40% : "How's the GOP doing on abortion these days?"
38% :That's a marked shift from earlier in the campaign cycle, when Republicans were far less likely to spend time and money talking about abortion.
38% : Just 9% of battleground state voters back a complete ban on abortion without exceptions, according to WPA.
37% : By 51% to 32%, battleground state voters say Republicans are more extreme on abortion than Democrats, according to polling exclusively provided to NBC News by WPA Intelligence, a GOP political consulting firm.
36% : For some, that has meant walking back support for a total ban, embracing more limited restrictions on abortion and trying to reverse the tide by painting Democrats as the radicals.
36% :The adjustment, which became evident when some GOP candidates began backtracking on abortion, comes as Republican pollsters warn that the issue has serious traction in competitive races for the House and the Senate after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and that GOP candidates have been too slow to address Democratic attacks.
35% : Their biggest liability is an extremist position on abortion."

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