The main issue Bush ran on in 2004 wasn’t gay marriage
In several key swing states, including the critical state of Ohio, gay marriage was on the ballot. This was deliberately pushed for by the Bush administration and campaign, who hoped to drive the base out to the polls to vote against it and for Bush.
In any case, while gay marriage specifically may not have been the top issue explicitly campaigned on by Bush, it was certainly a potent one during the 2004 campaign (when Bush endorsed a constitutional amendment forever banning it), and the dogwhistling about "traditional moral values" and such was certainly a top Bush campaign issue. I should know; I lived through this campaign and it was largely my political awakening.
Well the thing is GA/WI/PA dont have citizen initiated ballot measures so that strategy wont work.
Many Republicans also proved in 2022 they could win big despite their positions on abortion if they didnt run on election denial as well, so the real question is whether or not someone can defeat Trump in the primaries or not. That candidate can still obviously lose since Republicans sadly have to win one of the rust belt 3 in order to win the presidency and those states dont seem to be either economically or socially conservative
Not sure about that. Something to keep in mind is that several competitive states do elect the state's highest court, and we just saw one of those elections effectively turn into an abortion referendum.
IMO the only way out is for the Republican nominee to separate himself from all this on federalist grounds. Trump seems to get this to some degree. Most of the others don't, and then you have Sununu who is so pro-choice that it would be a problem in Southern states in the GE.
