A former pollster and adviser to President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton said that, in an effort to energize liberal voters ahead of the midterms, the draft Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade was leaked.
The draft decision, which was written by Justice Samuel Alito, said the states should have the authority to regulate abortion since nothing in the Constitution supports it as a right.
“The leak of the … potential Supreme Court decision was, I think, clearly designed to affect both the court, and I think perhaps the midterms. I think that Democrats were rather lackluster going into these midterms, had kind of a feeling of growing defeat coming,” Harris Poll chairman and Stagwell CEO Mark Penn said, as reported.
“This is going to provide an ability for Democrats to energize their base somewhat more than was going to happen without this. I think that that breathed new life into Democratic hopes for those midterm elections,” added Penn.
Soon after Politico published the draft decision Monday night and remained until after midnight, demonstrators gathered outside the Supreme Court.
“I don’t think the most unprecedented leak in history in the Supreme Court happened because somebody was careless and left this decision on the desk somewhere. I think somebody really planned this out, looked for the right timing and put it out and maybe was fishing for it,” Penn said.
A December Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll found that 46% of registered voters wanted states to have authority over abortion laws, while 54% favored keeping Roe v. Wade.
“Bottom line is this leak probably energized Democrats more than Republicans. It probably will energize the entire electorate,” said Penn.
“We’ll probably have more fundraising than ever, and I suspect even more turnout in a midterm election than ever as a result of this leak. It’s really going to go through the roof on both sides,” Penn added.