SPOKANE, Wash. – Washington Governor Jay Inslee (D) saying that hospitals must perform emergency abortions. Idaho Governor Brad Little (R) saying that only citizens can vote. Both of these executive actions functionally change nothing, but they do send a political signal to voters heading into election season.
Before Inslee signed his June directive requiring hospitals to perform emergency abortion services, they were already required to do so under state law. Before Little signed his July executive action saying that only citizens could vote, non-citizens already couldn’t vote in Idaho. Despite the fact that these actions didn’t meaningfully change any policies, they were useful for each governor nonetheless.
Moving into a particularly consequential election season, leaders in both major parties are employing executive actions to highlight the issues where their candidates are most in-line with the average voter.
Democrats are where they enjoy a majority of support from the American public according to Pew Research Center polling.
The GOP has honed-in on immigration as a winning message given that the vast majority of Republicans view it as a central issue according to Pew.
The phenomenon of the politically significant yet legislatively irrelevant executive action is not contained to state government and has been a regular fixture of the last several presidential administrations and the current Biden White House.
As the public prepares to vote, leaders in both major parties hope that making strong statements with directives and orders can help their candidates edge out the competition in November.
