DNC National Press Secretary Sarafina Chitika released the following statement:

“Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis are too busy scrambling to out-MAGA each other on the debate stage to talk about any real solutions to the issues facing working families. On the campaign trail, they’ve peddled plans to rip away health care, ban abortion nationwide, and gut Social Security and Medicare. Their reckless and unpopular MAGA agenda would be a disaster for the American people – and it’s already a disaster for Republicans who keep losing elections up and down the ballot thanks to their toxic policies.”

Despite clear opposition from a majority of voters, the GOP has made support for a national abortion ban a litmus test. DeSantis and Haley both signed extreme abortion bans as governors, and now, they’re both trying to take their extreme anti-choice agenda nationwide. 

USA Today: “Americans overwhelmingly oppose the next goal of many anti-abortion activists, to enact a federal law banning abortion nationwide. By 80%-14%, those surveyed opposed that idea, including 65% of Republicans and 83% of independents.”

Axios: “Most Americans support abortion access one year after Roe v. Wade: poll”

CNN: “A 64% majority of US adults say they disapprove of last year’s Supreme Court ruling that women do not have a constitutional right to an abortion, with half strongly disapproving – an assessment that’s almost entirely unchanged from CNN’s poll last July in the immediate wake of the decision.”

DeSantis and Haley have both supported repealing the Affordable Care Act – a move that would endanger health care coverage for millions of Americans who rely on it. 

Jon Favreau: “If Trump wins, 40 million people could lose their health care, and insurance companies would get to deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions. If Biden wins, that…won’t happen.”

Axios: “The ACA’s protections for people with pre-existing conditions have proved especially popular, with 79% of Americans — including 66% of Republicans — saying in 2020 that they did not want the Supreme Court to overturn those protections.”

NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll: “Thirteen years after the Affordable Care Act was signed into law, more than eight in ten Americans (83%) either agree or strongly agree that all Americans have a basic right to healthcare coverage.”

Bryan Bennett, Navigator Research: “Per our October @NavigatorSurvey research, repealing the ACA (and January 6) remain the top concerns about Trump’s first term as president”

Washington Post: “But what’s clear is that an effort to ‘terminate’ Obamacare is not something Americans are pining for. Not only were the GOP’s efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare during Trump’s term historically unpopular, but the law also appears to have gotten more popular since then. … And when politicians talk of ending health insurance for tens of millions of Americans, dropping coverage of preexisting conditions and cutting Obamacare’s Medicaid funding, things get even dicier.”

DeSantis and Haley are both pushing a deeply unpopular MAGAnomics agenda of giving tax breaks to the wealthy while gutting key social programs for hardworking Americans.

Fox News: “Fox News Poll: 71% choose funding Social Security, Medicare over budget cuts”

Pew Research Center: “About six-in-ten adults now say that the feeling that some corporations don’t pay their fair share (61%) bothers them a lot, while a nearly identical share say this about some wealthy people not paying their fair share (60%), according to a Pew Research Center survey of 5,079 U.S. adults conducted from March 27 to April 2, 2023.”

AP: “Most oppose Social Security, Medicare cuts: AP-NORC poll”

Axios: “Nearly 9 in 10 Americans say they oppose reducing spending on Social Security or Medicare, according to new polling from our Axios-Ipsos Two Americas Index.”

Despite overwhelming support for commonsense gun safety reform, DeSantis and Haley have both made it abundantly clear that they won’t put the safety of our children and our communities ahead of the gun lobby.

Fox News: “Fox News Poll: Voters favor gun limits over arming citizens to reduce gun violence”

Morning Consult: “Voters Maintain Strong, Bipartisan Support for Banning Assault Weapons After Lewiston”

The Hill: “Most Americans say they would support stricter gun control laws: poll”

Instead of addressing the real issues the American people care about, MAGA Republicans like DeSantis and Haley are wasting time on petty culture wars and trying to force their MAGA agenda into the classroom over the objections of parents and voters.

NPR: “Poll: Americans say teachers are underpaid, about half of Republicans oppose book bans”

Fox News: “Fox News Poll: Parents increasingly concerned about book banning”

Detroit Free Press: “Survey: Michigan voters oppose banning books about race and sexuality”

Insider: “Book bans and restrictions are a losing issue for Republicans”