Donald Trump and J.D. Vance are both sending conflicting messages on abortion, and their lack of alignment is hurting the campaign, according to a CNN analyst.
The two Republicans are between a rock and a hard place. They need Evangelical support, but they also have to win over moderate voters in the middle. As a result, Trump is repeatedly flip-flopping over whether he is for or against abortion.
Knowing that it would be an incredibly unpopular move, Vance has been telling reporters that Trump would veto a federal abortion ban. When pressed, though, Trump refuses to answer the question.
Daniel Strauss, a reporter for CNN, explained on the air on Saturday:
"Now this comes at a time that is pretty inconvenient for any Republican presidential nominee to be sort of vacillating on abortion and abortion rights. It's only a few weeks or only less than 100 days till the election and Trump needs the support of both more moderate voters and the national electorate that generally is more moderate on abortion and the conservative republican base that is interested in more restrictive bans so right now, it's pretty difficult for Trump and his campaign to navigate this."
The reporter continued, "Honestly this is kind of a nightmare for any comms operative on a campaign where one principal is saying one thing and another principal is saying the opposite."