Democrats Want Abortion to Be the Number One Issue, Republicans Say Immigration Tops Their Priorities in Election 2024
by Edwin Quinabo
Urgency and emergency – are just two of the buzzwords employed by Democratic and Republican strategists to frame the debate on abortion and immigration this election year.
Abortion and immigration have historically been a polarizing issue, capable of mobilizing voters on both sides of the political spectrum. Even before Dobbs’ ruling two years ago that overturned Roe v Wade, Democrat politicians have been motivating voters to vote with abortion rights in mind.
For decades Republicans have made immigration – threats of foreigners entering illegally and changing the nation’s cultural and economic landscape – a centerpiece of their election campaigns.
Politicos say both abortion and immigration in this year’s election could have greater gravitas since this is the first presidential election after Dobbs and that border crossings into the U.S. at the southern border – either illegally or via legal asylum – are at an all-time high.
According to national polls, voters agree that these two issues place high in their priorities in 2024 and could sway their voting preferences.
What national polls say
An overwhelming majority of Democrats and left-leaning independents support abortion and reproductive rights — 82% disapproved of the overturning of Dobbs, and 61% of Americans opposed the end of federal protections on abortion, according to a Gallop poll.
A new NPR/PBS NewsHour Marist poll conducted this February showed immigration as the number one issue Republicans are most concerned about. Inflation was second and everything else did not come close. For independents, immigration placed second while Democrats were most concerned with preserving democracy.
The poll showed a slight majority of adult Americans are still more open to immigration in 2024. A majority or 57% overall, 84% Democrats, 27% Republicans, 55% independents said the country’s openness to people from all over the world is essential to what it means to be American.
But nearly three-quarters (72%) of Republicans said being too open to immigration risks America’s identity, 15% of Democrats, 47% overall.
Only 29% of respondents said they approve of how Biden is handling immigration, and Republicans hold a 12-point advantage on the question of which party Americans think would do a better job when it comes to dealing with the issue, according to the same poll.
In a Harvard CAPS-Harris poll published last December, just 38% of voters said they approved of Biden’s handling of immigration.
Within immigration, voters’ top priorities were increased border security (41%) and a pathway for legalization of DREAMers (children brought into the U.S. illegally) at 28%. The least importance was given to taking in refugees trying to escape war and violence (15%) and increasing deportations of immigrants in the country illegally (14%), the Marist poll showed.
Overall, polls show a majority of Americans support abortion access or reproductive rights. When it comes to immigration, despite a passionate and vocal anti-immigration electorate that has been capturing headlines, a majority of voters remain open to welcoming immigrants.
Based on poll numbers Democrats should have an edge on both issues. But experts say the degree to which the voting electorate is passionate about abortion access or immigration will determine turnout at the ballot box.
As elections are never determined by a single-issue politicos say the economy is always a strong motivator for voters while concern over inflation, a carryover from the last midterm, will factor prominently in this election cycle once again. Unique to this 2024 election, politicos expect foreign policy specific to the war in the Middle East – which they say is being poorly handled – as high in their priorities among millennials and Gen Z.
State level consideration on abortion
Since Dobbs gave abortion access or restrictions back to the states, politicos say this issue will most likely affect state-level races in battleground states.
In Hawaii’s case, 2024 is the first election that Hawaii voters will decide if they agree with Hawaii’s direction on abortion. Last year, Hawaii’s Democratic-controlled legislature and Gov. Josh Green signed into law a bill that expanded access to abortion in reaction to Dobbs.
Family immigration could be a strong consideration for Hawaii voters
While the top issue on immigration concerning border crossings at the southern border is not the highest of priorities for Hawaii residents given the state’s isolation, immigration rights experts say that family immigration could be a concern.
Family immigration has been the primary basis for legal immigration to the United States, including in Hawaii. Most immigrants to Hawaii trace their immigration to a family member who sponsored them into the country.
While Trump was president in his second half of his term, he proposed a complete dismantling of family immigration, favoring a new system that’s merit based. If it were not for the Democrats gaining control of the House in the 2018 midterm, family-based immigration could have been upended, politicos say, which is why immigrant advocates in Hawaii say immigration must be factored in their decision-making for 2024, if they want family-based immigration to be protected.
This is the context, the political climate surrounding abortion and immigration as the dawn of a weighty election approaches. What are the specifics of these issues voters will be considering?
Abortion in Hawaii
A Pew Research Center poll showed 66% of Hawaii adults favor that abortion be legal in all or most cases. The right to abortion’s popularity fueled last year’s legislation to expand access to abortion in the state.
During that bill-signing ceremony, State Sen. Joy San Buenaventura said Hawaii lawmakers acted so that women would have continued access that three generations of women in the state had since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Roe v Wade in 1973. Prior to the federal ruling, Hawaii legalized abortion in 1970. It was the first state in the nation to allow abortion.
“Hawaii will continue to be a beacon … physicians need only think about their patients and need not have to worry about prosecutions or extradition,” said San Buenaventura, chairperson of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.
The latest abortion law in Hawaii legalizes:
*abortion until a fetus would be viable outside the womb. After that, it’s legal if a patient’s life or health is in danger.
*allows physician assistants to perform abortions in addition to previously doctors and advanced registered nurse practitioners
*allows minors to get abortions without the consent of a parent or guardian
*stops other states from sanctioning local doctors and nurses who provide abortion care to out-of-state residents
“Hawaii has shown that we will stand by our medical providers, that we will stand with our physicians, and that those who provide safe abortion and contraception — even if it’s just to offer advice to tourists — will not have to fear arrest, extradition, subpoena,” San Buenaventura said.
Pro and anti-abortion Filipino residents that the Chronicle reached out to did not want to comment on record with their names but agreed to speak in confidence.
Cora, 52, Waipahu, said she had an abortion at 17 years old. “I was young and felt I wasn’t prepared to have a child. It has been my secret for many years, even though society is accepting of it. Only two members of my family know about it. Until today, it is something I think about and feel guilty about.”
Cora grew up Catholic and remains committed to the faith, she said, which she believes is the reason guilt persists. “There were stages in my life that I consciously distanced myself from the Church because of this guilt. But I believe that God is forgiving, and he knows my despair over what I did. And I believe the grace of the Holy Spirit keeps bringing me back to the Church.”
“If I could go back in time, I would have had my baby and would be loving three kids, one addition to our family,” Cora said.
Susan, Honolulu, a healthcare professional, believes reproductive freedom is a basic right, a human right, that women should have control over their own body. “Abortion is a healthcare issue, a public health issue. I know women who’ve had an abortion and believe me it’s not something they took lightly. And that choice they made was their own personal business, and it shouldn’t be the government’s business to regulate abortion. It’s such a private and personal decision that no one I know feels comfortable talking about it.”
What politicians are saying about abortion
At a recent strategy retreat attended by Democratic leaders, they said they want to make abortion rights the number one issue and want to draw a contrast to Republicans both nationally and in the states. Focusing on abortion has paid off well for Democrats in the last midterm election and had surprising results in state-level races even in ruby red states since Dobbs.
“This is the pivotal issue of 2024,” Rep. Katherine Clark (Mass.), the Democratic whip, said. “It is the fight that will determine the trajectory of the next four years, and the next four decades.”
President Joe Biden said, “It was Donald Trump and his Supreme Court who ripped away the rights and freedoms of women in America. And it will be Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and all of you who are going to restore those rights for the women of America.”
“Donald Trump is betting we won’t — you won’t vote on this issue,” he said. “Well, guess what? I’m betting he’s wrong,” Biden said.
Realizing the popularity of abortion rights, leading GOP candidate and former president Donald Trump has toned down some of his sharper anti-abortion rhetoric. Trump said he’s open to compromise and told voters at a town hall in Iowa that he favored certain exceptions including cases of rape and incest. “We’re living in a time when there has to be a little bit of a concession in one way or another,” he said.
In large conservative pockets across the nation, Republican candidates are far from shying away from the issue of abortion despite pro-abortion rights sentiments nationally; and they are looking into legislation strengthening abortion restrictions.
National ban on abortion
One in three women of reproductive age live in a state with an abortion ban. Pro-choice women activists say they want federal legislation to protect access to abortion services for everyone regardless of where they live, and to protect the ability of healthcare providers to provide these services in a safe and accessible manner.
They say their greatest fear is for a Republican-controlled presidency and Congress — should they have the numbers – to outlaw abortion nationally.
Vice President Harris visited her home state of California in January and cautioned Democratic voters against complacency, warning that a federal abortion ban is possible if Republicans take full control of the government.
“Don’t get too comfortable,” Harris said. “Let’s understand: None of us can afford to sit back and think, ‘Thank God we’re in California.’”
A national ban on abortion would trump state laws that currently provide abortion access.
The abortion pill mifepristone
Hawaii’s new law enacted last year repeals a requirement that abortions be performed at a hospital or clinic. Doctors said the old law didn’t account for medical abortions that can be carried out at a patient’s home with medication prescribed remotely.
But the use of the abortion-inducing drug while legal in many states like in Hawaii could be banned nationally in the upcoming Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v FDA which is scheduled for hearing March 26 at the Supreme Court. A decision is expected by this summer.
More than half of abortions in Hawaii are done through taking mifepristone, a two-pill regimen used to terminate pregnancy in the first 10 weeks. In the last three years alone, more than 3,100 patients used mifepristone, according to Hawaii Department of Health data.
If mifepristone is banned, healthcare professionals say it could pose greater problems in some of the neighboring islands where facilities for surgical procedures for abortion are nonexistent. They would need to fly to Oahu to access care.
Health professionals say without mifepristone, patients needing to go to a facility for care would mostly affect the poor, the homeless, those with mental illnesses or have addiction issues, as well as those from conservative families who want to keep their abortion in strict confidentiality.
Immigration reform
Erlinda Corpuz parents are immigrants from the Philippines. She grew up in Salt Lake on Oahu but has been living in California for over 20 years. She said living on the mainland has expanded her opinions on immigration from the time she left Hawaii.
“In Hawaii there isn’t a problem of illegal immigration as in the mainland. In border states, we are really feeling the toll that illegal immigration is having on our resources. But it’s not just border states. With busing of illegals to big states like New York, Illinois and other areas, residents there are also feeling the crunch. I think if we didn’t have high inflation and were not feeling the hurt of high taxes in California, illegal immigration wouldn’t matter as much. But since many of us are experiencing financial hardship, it’s hard to see so much of our tax dollars go to sheltering illegals and providing them services that our own residents and homeless need.”
Corpuz said, “We need immigration reform. We need to find a balance that secures legal immigration and discourages illegal immigration. The southern border is too porous. Too many people who don’t qualify for asylum are coming to the borders and using asylum as an excuse to get in. Then with catch and release, they don’t show up for their court date and stay illegally.
“But yes, I’m for family-based immigration. This system works because normally people who come into the country in this way have family to go and help transition them to self-reliance. They do not use up needed resources that could go to American citizens who really need them. Immigration reform is also needed to help the backlog of cases for those going through legal channels,” Corpuz said.
Asylum-seeking migrants often stay in a detention facility briefly for processing, assigned a date to appear in immigration court and released to go wherever they want. Most asylum seekers will have their cases dismissed and be forced to leave the country. Being granted asylum is rare from only 15-28%. Often asylum-seekers do not report to the court and their whereabouts are difficult to track down.
Besides improving entry to both legal and illegal border immigration, immigrant advocates are demanding immigration reform to streamline the naturalization process, make it easier, faster and more accessible by eliminating barriers and reducing processing times.
Immigrant advocates blast Trump and his policies while he was president as being excessive and cruel. Trump’s policy separating minor children from their parents at the border and forcing them to be detained separated from family is often cited as an example of excessive and cruel. They also find the former president’s rhetoric on immigration as racist and xenophobic.
The last sweeping immigration reform bill came in 1986 during President Ronald Reagan’s term.
Currently, reforms to immigration at the U.S. Senate are being lumped into a $100-plus billion package that would also include funding for the wars in Ukraine and Israel, and funding to Taiwan. It’s not a comprehensive bill to immigration, immigrant advocates say. But there are provisions that raise the standard to get asylum, send away those who don’t qualify and expedite cases for those who do. It would give the Department of Homeland Security new emergency authority to shut down the border at times when there are too many migrants trying to cross.
It also would end the controversial “catch and release” practice. Those entering entry ports seeking asylum would be under federal supervision for 90 days while they complete asylum interviews. Those who pass would receive work permits as they await adjudication of their claims. Those who fail would be removed from the U.S. and repatriated to their home countries or to Mexico.
House leadership said the immigration provisions at the Senate aren’t strong enough and that if that bill comes to the Senate, it would be dead on arrival.
Politicos criticize the House of playing politics in an election year, saying much of the provisions in the bill is what Republicans have been demanding, but do not want to get it passed to avoid giving Biden – who said he would sign the bill – credit and possibly bolster his chances of reelection.
“Politicians should stop their power games and get meaningful immigration reform done. Increased migration is happening all over the world and things will only worsen if we don’t get a handle on the situation,” Corpuz said. “We want to welcome legal immigrants and give them opportunity because immigration is good for the country. But streams of illegal immigration must be controlled so that our cities and counties can absorb them without being overburdened.”
