Keller: Why is there so much emphasis on abortion in New Hampshire gubernatorial campaign ads?

The opinions expressed below are those of Jon Keller and not of WBZ, CBS News or Paramount Global.

BOSTON – The television ads for New Hampshire's gubernatorial candidates are hard to miss. They've been on the air everywhere for months. And while polls show inflation and the economy are the top issues facing voters, another issue is dominating the advertising wars.

Abortion dominates campaign ads

“I was three months pregnant and the doctor couldn't find the heartbeat,” former Sen. Kelly Ayotte recounted in an emotional new ad wrapping up her campaign for governor, ending with a vow: “I would never deny anything. “ Woman or family undergoing treatment such as IVF.

It is an attempt to minimize the political damage caused by months of attacks by her opponent, former Manchester mayor Joyce Craig.

“As mayor, I supported the largest Planned Parenthood in New Hampshire; Kelly Ayotte has spent her career attacking reproductive rights,” she said in a commercial.

But Ayotte's defense ad, one of several she has aired, raises a question: If abortion rights are low on the list of voter priorities in New Hampshire, why is the issue so relentlessly emphasized?

Campaign tactics

“I think it's an old saying in New Hampshire politics: When a social issue like abortion comes to the forefront, it tends to divide Republicans and mobilize Democrats,” said University of New Hampshire political science professor Dante Scala.

This tactic can also be seen in the presidential election campaign. And for Ayotte, these ads are an attempt to ensure that swing voters in a close race go into the voting booth and think about other things.

“If they can neutralize the issue and voters feel like, 'Okay, she's not going to change anything,' then that gives voters permission to move on to other issues like taxes and crime, where they might like Ayotte better than Joyce Craig.” he told Scala.

The conventional wisdom is that the economy will be the most important issue for voters, and it is obviously extremely important. But why people vote a certain way — especially the less partisan, new-thinking voters who may decide the outcome — is a complicated question. Some of them may decide based on what matters to them when they enter the voting booth. And what's going on right now in New Hampshire and elsewhere is a battle to plant those seeds.