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Abortion ‘on the ballot’ in 10 states this election, but it might not matter

Abortion ‘on the ballot’ in 10 states this election, but it might not matter

Voters in 10 U.S. states will decide on major ballot initiatives this year that either expand or restrict abortion access for women, a highly polarizing issue but one that some advocacy groups do not believe will affect turnout quite as much as some had expected.  It’s unclear to what extent this could impact Vice President Harris, who has focused heavily on abortion access and reproductive rights in her bid for the presidency. In the final race to Election Day, some doubt the issue has lasting power to turn out voters to the same degree it did during the 2022 midterm elections, held just months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. “I think Democrats are dramatically overestimating the power of abortion,” Shawn Carney, president of the pro-life nonprofit group “40 Days for Life,” told Fox News in an interview.  ‘KAMALA ERA’: DNC LAUNCHES TAYLOR SWIFT-THEMED CAMPAIGN IN PITCH TO YOUNG VOTERS The nonprofit has a grassroots presence in all 50 states and has canvassed heavily in the 10 states that will vote directly on abortion-related measures this year: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New York, Nevada and South Dakota. The majority of these ballot measures seek to amend efforts passed in Republican-led states, whose leaders moved to restrict abortion in the wake of the Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision on Roe. Notable policies will be on the books in Missouri, where voters will have the option to reverse the state’s near-total ban, and Arizona, where voters can amend the state constitution to allow abortions through the 24-week mark. The most populous state deciding on abortion measures is Florida, home to more than 13 million registered voters. Voters there will decide whether to lift an existing law that bans abortions after six weeks and instead extend it to the point of fetal viability between 23 and 24 weeks. “I think we have the best chance to win in Florida,” Carney said, citing the popularity in the state of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican and staunch advocate of pro-life issues. “We have a great presence in Florida. We have great ‘40 Days’ campaigns throughout that great state.” SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS PENNSYLVANIA PROVISIONAL BALLOT RULING, IN A MAJOR LOSS FOR GOP Harris and other Democrats have worked to highlight the new risks to abortion access women face. But it’s not clear what impact this will have on turnout in a presidential election dominated by economic issues and immigration. Former first lady Michelle Obama dedicated most of her stump speech at a Harris rally last week in Kalamazoo, Mich., to outlining the many ways women could see their reproductive rights diminished further. “Your niece could be the one miscarrying in her bathtub after the hospital turned her away,” Obama told the audience. “Your daughter could be the one terrified to call the doctor if she’s bleeding during an unexpected pregnancy.” Importantly, voters in states where abortion is on the ballot will vote on it independently, meaning it is “decoupled” from their presidential vote and votes for down-ballot leaders. This means that some staunch pro-choice supporters could theoretically vote for Trump and Republicans in their states while also voting to support pro-life procedures.  This “decoupling” effort would indeed reflect public opinion that has shifted to support abortion. A Fox News poll conducted this year found that a record-high number of voters now say they support legalizing abortion in some form, including two-thirds who said they supported a nationwide law that would guarantee abortion access for women. Fifty-nine percent said they believe abortion should be legal in “all or most cases,” up from the previous high of 57% in September 2022.  But how much the issue of abortion will drive voter turnout this year – for those who are either for or against the new ballot measure – is unclear.  National polls have seen abortion ranked consistently by voters as the third-most important issue in the 2024 election cycle, behind immigration and far behind the economy.  Just 15% of voters ranked abortion as their No. 1 priority in 2024, according to a recent Fox News poll, compared to immigration, which 17% of voters said they viewed as the No. 1 issue, and the economy, which a strong 40% of voters ranked as their top priority. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Trump gets last-minute round of big-name endorsements including Joe Rogan, son of Roberto Clemente

Trump gets last-minute round of big-name endorsements including Joe Rogan, son of Roberto Clemente

On the eve of the U.S. election, President Trump received a round of last-minute endorsements from high-profile names, including Joe Rogan and Roberto Clemente Jr., son of the baseball legend.  With less than 24 hours to go before the election, podcaster and comedian, Joe Rogan formally endorsed Trump for president, ending speculation.  Posting on X, Rogan highlighted his nearly three hour interview with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who has already supported Trump.  “The great and powerful @elonmusk. If it wasn’t for him we’d be f—ed,” Rogan said. “He makes what I think is the most compelling case for Trump you’ll hear, and I agree with him every step of the way.”  REP. DINGELL DOUBLES DOWN ON INTERNMENT CAMP CLAIMS: ‘REALLY WASN’T A JOKE’ And leaving no room for doubt, Rogan wrote: “For the record, yes, that’s an endorsement of Trump.”  RNC TAKES VICTORY LAP AFTER HIGH COURT’S ABSENTEE BALLOT RULING IN KEY SWING STATE Earlier Monday, Robert Clemente Jr., son of the Puerto Rican baseball legend, formally endorsed Trump in the city where his father played.  Clemente Jr. joined Trump on stage in Pittsburgh where he praised the former commander-in-chief.  “For the first time, I had to take a step forward. It is very important for me to support this man, because I believe tomorrow is a change of time,” Clemente Jr. said. “My father, the name Clemente, what it means is goodwill and unity. I believe that your team is going to bring it all home. I believe in everything that you stand for right now,” he told Trump. And earlier Monday, Randi Mahomes, the mother of star Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, endorsed Trump during a game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  In an exclusive video to OutKick, Randi Mahomes, wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat with a Chiefs sweatshirt revealed her endorsement of Trump.  “Make America great again. Let’s do it. Woo!” Randi Mahomes said.  Additionally, Trump was joined on stage in Pittsburgh earlier Monday by podcast host Megyn Kelly, who touted the former president as a “protector of women.” Fox News Digital’s Scott Thompson contributed to this report. 

Harris, Trump conclude campaigning -now its up to the voters as Election Day 2024 gets underway

Harris, Trump conclude campaigning -now its up to the voters as Election Day 2024 gets underway

Nearly two years after launching his campaign to return to the White House, former President Trump’s bid to win back his old job is now in the hands of America’s voters, as Election Day 2024 has arrived. Facing off against the Republican presidential nominee is Vice President Kamala Harris, who just three and a half months ago replaced her boss – President Biden – atop the Democrats’ national ticket. With roughly 75 million ballots already cast across the country in early voting, and in-person day-of voting now getting underway, both major party nominees are optimistic about their chances in this historic showdown. “Momentum is on our side,” Harris told supporters at a rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania on Monday. “Can you feel it.” HEAD HERE FOR FOX NEWS UPDATES ON THE 2024 ELECTION  And hours later, at a rally in Pittsburgh, the vice president reiterated, “make no mistake, we will win. Trump, also campaigning in battleground Pennsylvania, told supporters “we’ve been waiting for this. I’ve been waiting four years for this.” HARRIS, TRUMP, HOLD ELECTION EVE DUELING RALLIES IN THE BIGGEST OF THE BATTLEGROUNDS And even though the final national polls and key swing state surveys pointed to a margin-of-error race, the former president has touted that “we have a big lead. We have a big lead.” Trump and Harris held dueling rallies on Election Eve in Pennsylvania, which, with 19 electoral votes at stake, is the biggest prize among the seven key battleground states. Harris closed out her campaign schedule with a large late night rally in Philadelphia, by the famed “Rocky Steps” outside the city’s Art Museum. Around the same time Harris was in Philadelphia, Trump held his final rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the same spot where he closed out his 2016 and 2020 campaigns. Pennsylvania and Michigan, along with Wisconsin, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada, are the seven swing states whose razor-thin margins decided President Biden’s 2020 victory over Trump and will likely determine whether Trump or Harris wins the 2024 election. CHECK OUT THE FOX NEWS ELECTION HUB Harris, Trump, their running mates and top surrogates, have fanned out across the seven battlegrounds the past couple of months. And the two presidential campaigns and allied super PACs have spent nearly all the $2.3 billion they’ve shelled out to run ads in the White House race in the battleground states. The vice president and the former president closed out their campaigns with very divergent messages. Harris, who for a second straight day avoided mentioning Trump by name, closed with a positive and upbeat message as she painted a unified future for the nation. Trump painted a negative picture of the country the past four years under the Biden administration, as he railed against Democratic policies and spotlighted the dangers of unchecked immigration. For Trump, the 2024 campaign has been a grueling two-year marathon. He announced his candidacy at his south Florida Mar-a-Lago club days after the 2022 midterm elections. After a slow start, the former president easily dispatched a field of GOP primary opponents – which last year briefly expanded to over a dozen contenders – and ran the table earlier this year in the Republican presidential primaries. NOVEMBER SURPRISE: DISMAL JOBS REPORT HANDS TRUMP INSTANT AMMUNITION TO FIRE AT HARRIS Trump – who was indicted in four different criminal cases – saw his support surge and his fundraising soar in the late spring, after he made history as the first former or current president convicted of felonies. A month later, Biden suffered a major setback after a disastrous late June debate performance against Trump reignited longstanding questions over whether the 81-year-old president was physically and mentally up for another four grueling years in the White House – and sparked calls from within his own party for him to step down. Trump’s polling advantage over Biden widened, and the former president was further politically boosted after surviving an assassination attempt on his life at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania two days before the start of the Republican National Convention in July. But the race was instantly turned upside down days later, as Biden ended his re-election bid and endorsed his vice president. Democrats quickly coalesced around Harris, and her fundraising surged as her poll numbers soared. The Harris honeymoon continued through the late August Democratic National Convention, and into September, when most pundits declared her the winner of the one and only presidential debate between her and Trump.  But as the calendar moved from September into October, Trump appeared to regain his footing, and public opinion surveys indicated the former president gaining momentum. Veteran Republican strategist and Fox News contributor Karl Rove called the Harris-Trump showdown a “coin toss.” But longtime Republican consultant Alex Castellanos, taking issue with the polls, pointed to voter registration gains by Republicans. “I think the pollsters are getting this wrong. We’re all missing something because they’re giving us the same poll over and over again. .. Somebody’s missing something.” And Castellanos, a veteran of numerous presidential campaigns, argued “what I think they’re missing a massive shift in voting registration underneath all of this. Thirty-one states have voter registration by party. Thirty of them in the past four years have seen movement by Republicans.” Longtime Democratic pollster Mark Penn, on Fox News’ “Special Report,” pointed to an apparent surge in early voting by Republicans – after Trump, long a vocal critic of early voting – in recent days embraced the GOP’s longstanding effort to make Republicans more accepting of early voting – and said “the only fact we know is that Republicans have done a lot better in the mail in and early voting that they ever have.” Harris, a California resident, cast her vote by mail ahead of Election Day.  The Trump campaign said that the former president would cast his ballot in-person on Election Day in Palm Beach, Florida, where he resides. Trump, according to his campaign, also planned to spend Election Day with family, friends, and staff, and

These ‘bellwether’ counties could determine next president

These ‘bellwether’ counties could determine next president

Now that Election Day is finally here, there are a few counties that experts are closely watching as their results could indicate who the next president will be. Known as “bellwether counties,” these swing counties have, with some exceptions, consistently sided with the winning candidate for decades. Matthew Bergbower, a political science professor at Indiana State University, described a bellwether county as a “microcosm of the nation” in terms of political preferences. Though his county, Vigo County in Indiana, deviated by voting for Donald Trump in 2020, it has chosen the winning candidate in every election since 1952. ‘PAINSTAKING PROCESS’: PA COUNTY GIVES UPDATE ON PROBE OF SUSPICIOUS BATCH OF VOTER FORMS Clallam County in Washington state stands out as the only county to have voted for the winning presidential candidate in every election since 1980. The people of Clallam County are proud of their history as the “last bellwether county” in America. This year, the county looks just as divided as ever. Pam Blakeman, chair of the Clallam County Republicans, told Fox News Digital that she thinks the election “will be close in our County, but I see it swinging towards Trump.” She bases this on good Republican turnout and a ground game that she said “is the most active I have ever seen.” PENNSYLVANIA JUDGE ALLOWS ELON MUSK’S PAC TO CONTINUE $1M A DAY GIVEAWAY However, Ben Anderstone, a progressive Washington-based political consultant, told Fox News Digital that “a Trump win in Clallam County would be a bit of a surprise at this point.” “This year, it looks likely that Clallam County will be to the nation’s left,” he said. “In our August primary, Clallam County was very Democratic, about 57% to 43%. Lower-turnout voters in Clallam County are much more Republican, so we expect the presidential election will be a lot tighter. Still, our model suggests Clallam will only tighten to 53%-47% Democratic or so.” Like Clallam County, the presidential election could easily go either direction. Yet with GOP nominee former President Trump and Democrat nominee Vice President Harris facing razor-thin margins, three counties – Bucks, Erie and Northampton in Pennsylvania – stand out as particularly important. Pennsylvania, which has 19 electoral votes, is the largest swing state and thus the biggest target for both Trump and Harris. During this election cycle, Trump and Harris have had a significant presence in the state and in these three counties. On the final day before election day, Trump campaigned in both eastern and western Pennsylvania and Harris devoted the entire day to stops across the state. Vice presidential candidates Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, and Democrat Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz have similarly been making stops in Pennsylvania throughout the campaign. “Both campaigns see the path to the White House running through Pennsylvania,” said Berwood Yost, the director of the national survey group the Center for Opinion Research. Similarly, he said the path to victory in Pennsylvania runs through Bucks, Erie and Northampton counties. Bucks is a primarily suburban county just north of Philadelphia. Erie, which is situated in far northwestern Pennsylvania on Lake Erie, is primarily rural and significantly smaller in terms of population. Finally, Northampton in eastern Pennsylvania is suburban and home to Lehigh University, a private research college. According to Yost, all three mirror many of the key demographics, such as racial composition, educational attainment and population density, that make Pennsylvania so competitive. President Biden won Pennsylvania by a narrow 1.17 percent margin in 2020. The margins in Bucks (4.37), Erie (1.03) and Northampton (0.72) were similarly close. Yost said that like the rest of the country, people in these counties are “generally dissatisfied” with the economy and want to see some kind of change, something that is a positive indicator for Trump. However, he said “the closest to the closeness of the race makes it seem that they haven’t been able to take advantage of that.” “I think part of the reason the race is so close is that that message has not been consistently articulated by the top of the ticket,” he said. “Those distractions have raised some concerns among some voters.” Yost said the race will come down to what independents and traditional Republicans who are not enthusiastic about Trump decide at the ballot box. “That to me is really going to be the inflection point of this election,” he said. “If they’re wobbly, and they think it’s the economy, that’s a plus for Trump. If they go into the voting booth, and they think about something else, that’s a negative for the Trump campaign.”   Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.