MSNBC host Joy Reid says Republicans are downplaying what women should be focused on going into the midterm elections, specifically the revocation of federal protection for abortion rights.
Reid made her comments during Thursday’s edition of “The Reid Out” on MSNBC where she focused on the upcoming election, saying there was a “Republican effort to gaslight women voters.”
The MSNBC host sarcastically commented ahead of a break in programming, “Got to feed your hubby and the kids that we’re going to make you have, right, gals?”
Following the break the host returned to the issue, saying, “The midterm election is now less than three weeks away, and in the final stretch, I have noticed and I don’t know if you have noticed, frankly, this gaslighting of women voters.”
Reid’s comments came just before she spoke to an activist for abortion rights, and castigated the Republican platform saying, “This message that says, oh you don’t really care about your right to control your own bodies, dears. It’s the economy, stupid.”
She continued: “I mean, Republicans certainly want you to think about that and the beltway media is helping push that narrative with headlines touting recent polls, some with tiny, tiny sample sizes, suggesting Republicans are surging. ‘The red wave is back. We can go back to our pre-Dobbs narrative because the economy and inflation are the most important issue. The end.'”
After playing a clip of a reporter questioning President Joe Biden about the importance of abortion and the economy, Reid went on, “I mean, this may be news to Republicans and Fox News reporters, but women are part of the economy. Abortion is an economic issue.”
Check out her comments below (starting at 15:40):
Reid’s assertions about the election seem to be contradicted by multiple reports on polling data which cite voter concerns about the economy, inflation, and immigration as the primary issues to many ahead of the November midterms.
A New York Times/Siena College survey, conducted Oct. 9-12, found that the economy and inflation are the top voter issues going into the election. The poll surveyed 792 likely voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.
Additionally, a Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll exclusively released to The Hill on Monday found that about 74% of voters surveyed named inflation as a “very important” issue for the upcoming election, and 59% said immigration was also “very important.”
The same poll found that likely voters ranked abortion as the fourth most important issue with 55% calling it “very important.”
Mark Penn, the co-director of the Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll, commented on the results, saying, “The big issues of everyday life are overpowering issues like choice and climate change as we approach the election. Undeniably this last inflation report hurt the administration and so are the daily crime stories in big cities.”
