Why this Democratic group thinks the party can run against red state bills
The States Project came out of the midterms with bragging rights. It poured $60 million to help Democrats win legislative races, mostly in swing states where the Trump campaign tried to convince Republicans to overturn the 2020 election. In most of them — Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania — it won. And when legislators got to work, blue and red states sprinted in opposite directions.
Earlier this month, the States Project tried something different, paying Data for Progress to poll 1207 likely voters on the bills moving through their new legislatures. Among the findings, shared first with Semafor Americana: By a 37-point margin, voters wanted states to “prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals in housing and other public services.” Sixty-seven percent of voters wanted to write “the right to a safe, legal abortion” into state constitutions. Three-quarters of them wanted a guaranteed right to collective bargaining, and 84% favored paid sick leave laws.
Just 31% favored the right to carry a “concealed gun in public without a permit,” 35% wanted to “restrict discussions and staff training about race and racism” in K-12 schools, and 31% wanted to “ban financial managers from considering environmental and social risks” — a description of “ESG” investing standards, which Republicans oppose. Just 37% of voters favored school library bans on books “that mention or discuss sexual orientation or gender identity,” and less than half as many (16%) favored a similar ban on books about racism and slavery.
https://www.semafor.com/article/04/28/2023/why-this-democratic-group-thinks-the-party-can-run-against-red-state-bills
