“The View” panelist Sunny Hostin bugged a lot of conservatives on Thursday.
During a typically heated political discussion on the ABC morning show, Hostin, who is also the network’s senior legal correspondent, made an analogy that grouped a large demographic of voters with an insect no one wants to see in their home.
“I read a poll just yesterday that white Republican suburban women are now going to vote Republican,” Hostin said. “It’s almost like roaches voting for Raid.”
Hostin made the comment during a debate about abortion rights.
“They’re voting against their own self-interest,” she tried to explain.
Conservative panelist Alyssa Farah Griffin, who worked in the Trump White House, immediately took exception to that unflattering analogy.
“It’s insulting to the voter,” Griffin said as the pair spoke over one another. “People make decisions about what’s right for their families.”
Hostin has voiced distaste for abortion on a personal level, while objecting to the Supreme Court ruling on such issues “based on their faith.”
That court, which has made a dramatically rightward shift in recent years, overturned the nearly 50-year-old Roe v. Wade precedent that made abortion a constitutional right.
There was scattered applause in the audience after Hostin made her inflammatory remark. While she found some agreement on social media, critics on Twitter demanded an apology. ABC has not responded to a request for comment.
Comedian Whoopi Goldberg, a moderator on “The View,” has spoken about her choice to have an abortion — which she calls a “hard, awful decision that people make.”
Early voting is underway in the 2022 midterm elections. Democrats have worked to make the preservation of abortion rights a key issue for voters.
A Wall Street Journal survey published Wednesday found that Republican candidates had made sizable gains with white suburban women, who in growing numbers feel conservative lawmakers would be better for the economy. Only 16% of women polled said the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on abortion would be the most significant factor in their vote.
———
