Trump changes his tune on unpopular policies

As he seeks a second term in office, former President Donald Trump is trying to pull an about-face on some of the issues that are most important to American voters, including abortion rights, health care policy, and banning the social media site TikTok.

In the last few weeks, Trump has claimed he no longer supports a federal abortion ban, despite having previously promised to do just that. He also said that he no longer wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act, despite saying in November that he will never give up his efforts to “terminate” the law. And he said he doesn’t support banning TikTok, despite having campaigned in 2020 on forcing TikTok’s Chinese parent company to divest its ownership in the company or else be blocked from the United States.

Polling shows Trump’s previous positions on these issues are unpopular and could hurt his reelection chances.

A record high 59% of voters believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to a Fox News poll released in March. Nearly 61% of voters view the Affordable Care Act favorably, according to a survey conducted in January by Navigator Research. And an Associated Press–NORC poll conducted in January found a plurality of voters do not support banning TikTok. 

Here’s a look at Trump’s flip-flops on the issues.

Abortion

After a conservative majority on the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that the state can enforce an 1864 law that criminalizes abortion, Trump issued a statement saying that he would not support a federal abortion ban and instead would leave the issue to the states. 

“My view is that now that we have abortion where everyone wanted it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine by vote or legislation or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land, in this case, the law of the state,” Trump said in a video posted on his Truth Social media platform.

He added: “You must follow your heart on this issue, but remember you must also win elections to restore our culture, and in fact, to save our country, which is currently, and very sadly, a nation in decline.” 

However, in 2018 Trump appeared via video at the annual March for Life rally in Washington, D.C., in which he said he would sign a federal 20-week abortion ban that had passed in the House of Representatives.

“I call upon the Senate to pass this important law and send it to my desk for signing,” Trump told the thousands of anti-abortion protesters gathered for the march. 

What’s more, during the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump had said he believed that women who get abortions should face “some form of punishment.”

“American women are not going to be conned by Donald Trump and his comments about abortion. We know that he is the one who is responsible for what’s going on in Arizona and all over the country,” Minnesota Democratic Sen. Tina Smith said Sunday on ABC News’ “This Week.”

Affordable Care Act

On April 12, Trump posted a video to his Truth Social platform in which he said he wasn’t going to try to repeal the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, if elected again.

“I’m not running to terminate the ACA as crooked Joe Biden says all over the place,” Trump said. “We’re going to make the ACA much better than it is right now and much less expensive for you.”

However, just a few months ago, in November 2023, Trump said he wanted to get rid of Obamacare.

In a Truth Social post, Trump wrote: “The cost of Obamacare is out of control, plus, it’s not good Healthcare. I’m seriously looking at alternatives. We had a couple of Republican Senators who campaigned for 6 years against it, and then raised their hands not to terminate it. It was a low point for the Republican Party, but we should never give up!”

Trump campaigned in 2016 on repealing the ACA, and tried to make good on that promise after taking office in 2017. However, the then-Republican-controlled Congress failed to repeal and replace the law. 

TikTok divestment

On March 11, Trump appeared on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” and said he did not support banning the social media platform TikTok, amid a congressional effort to force the Chinese company ByteDance that owns TikTok to sell the company or else prohibit app stores in the United States from carrying the app. 

“There’s a lot of good and there’s a lot of bad with TikTok, but the thing I don’t like is that without TikTok, you’re going to make Facebook bigger, and I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people, along with a lot of the media,” Trump said. 

In 2020, when Trump was president, however, he said: “As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States.” 

In August 2020, Trump signed an executive order that prohibited ByteDance from carrying out any transactions with U.S. citizens. After taking office, President Joe Biden revoked Trump’s executive order, and TikTok remains available in the U.S.