since roe was struck down. but it s been a grueling battle just to get to today. political divisions creating a lot of contentiousness you typically don t see in a place that s known for being midwest nice. that s because the range of issues that have so clearly created dividing lines across the u.s. are playing out right here pitting neighbor against neighbor, friend against friend, and we know abortion is one of those issues. but in addition to dividing people, will it also motivate them to get to the polls? will it drive turnout among women? and does it help one candidate over the other? looking forward, will today s vote be be the first bat until a culture war to change the complaining the complex of the midterms. democrats may already be gaining an advantage. here s why i say that. take a look at this. on june 23rd, that s the day before roe was overturned. the generic congressional battle showed republicans up by almost 3 points. today their advantage has slunk to less
with over to laura coates, anderson, i m laura coats and this is cnn tonight. and look, i gotta get right to it i know we re supposed to think about politics and other notions today, but i gotta tell you about alex jones because i ve been thinking about it all day since i heard and watched that testimony. alex jones spent so many years trying to get people to believe in his conspiracy theories to pretend that sandy hook the tragedy never even happened and the precious lives that were lost, they somehow never even existed. he even said at one point that the parents were actors. obviously, that s not even cruel, it s absurd. because it did happen. and they obviously existed. well you know, there might have been a kind of poetic justice that occurred today then. because something else he claims never existed, text messages, communications about sandy hook. well it turns out they also exist. the attorney for the parents of one victims suing alex jones for damages over his defamat
That, because i had family members and friends, i would not defend that. he said, you don t have to resign, i have plenty of lawyers. but i would have resigned. wow. it was this one, you know, having five daughters. now with the protections and row casey go on. for the last three weeks, i have been pretty much nonstop in interviews and things, basically trying to say that the proponents are misleading people. it started with the name of the amendment, the wording of the amendment. all of the campaign literature, the money that has been spent, it s an effort to fool the people of kansas. but obviously, yesterday, they were not fooled. they were not fooled! dorothy gayle, woke up in kansas, she recognized everyone in the room for what they were. thank you steven mcalister, i appreciate you so much. my pleasure. let s take what we just heard, consider the fallout with tonight s political experts. do reproductive rights become, excuse me, even more of a deciding factor in the mid
3 points. today their advantage has slunk to less than a point. one final note. the contests in missouri are unusual because of some last-minute confusion in both states. in kansas it s because of the wording of the abortion amendment that would pave the way for a ban essentially if you re anti-abortion, you re pro amendment. if you re pro abortion right, you want to vote no. a lot of people are confused by that. in missouri the confusion comes because of donald trump who made a vague endorsement on monday. tweeting that he supports eric for u.s. senate. the problem is there are two erics. both now claiming trump s support. i want to bring in dasha burns on the other side of the state line in kansas. also joining me former senator claire mccaskill, who will be adding her insights throughout the hour. and steven mcalister, former