ANALYSIS | The Supreme Court may have fundamentally altered the 2022 midterm elections

Biden would address possible overturning of Supreme Court draft on abortion rights 0:59

(CNN) -

The draft of a Supreme Court opinion that would nullify the right to abortion in the United States is a giant story with myriad consequences for the American public.

It may also be exactly what Democrats need to solve their passion problem heading into the 2022 midterms.

• Supreme Court draft would overturn Roe v.

  Wade, the case that decriminalized abortion, publishes Politico

The hurdle for Democrats is that, with less than 200 days to go before the midterms, their base is significantly less motivated to vote than Republicans.

Two figures from a survey recently published by The Washington Post and ABC News make that disparity clear.

1. Republicans and Republican-leaning independents were 10 points more likely than their Democratic counterparts to say they would almost certainly vote this fall.

2. 42% of Americans surveyed said they strongly disapprove of the job President Joe Biden is doing, while only 21% strongly approve.

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• Biden says a woman's "right to choose is fundamental" after Supreme Court draft that would criminalize abortion

Now, while those numbers are dire for Democrats, they're not unusual ahead of midterm elections for the party in power.

When one side controls all the levers of power -- the White House, the House and the Senate -- as the Democrats do now, a sense of complacency tends to set in.

On the other hand, the outside party ––in this case the Republicans–– faces few problems in motivating their constituents, who are desperate to regain power.

In fact, it is very difficult to effectively motivate the party in power, to make them understand everything that is at stake if they lose.

Power produces complacency.

And complacency is toxic in American politics.

The threatening decision of the Supreme Court on abortion in the case of Roe v.

Wade is one of those external factors that has the ability to fundamentally alter the way parties, and especially their constituencies, approach the upcoming election.

• What is Roe vs.

  Wade?

  What you should know about the ruling that decriminalized abortion in the United States

With that feeling, Democrats immediately began casting the 2022 midterms as a direct referendum on the decision.

"If the court strikes down Roe, it will fall on our nation's elected officials at all levels of government to protect women's right to choose," Biden said in a statement Tuesday. the election this November," he added.

“Republicans just trashed Roe vs.

Wade, the constitutional guarantee of reproductive freedom.

And they will ban abortion in all 50 states, if they take control of Congress,” tweeted New York Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, who heads the House campaign arm of the Democrats.

“Only Democrats will protect our freedoms.

That is now the central alternative in the 2022 elections.”

Supreme Court would overturn Roe v.

Wade according to leak to Politico 7:02

"Women are going to vote in numbers that we've never seen before," said Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, on CBS.

"If you want to protect your fundamental rights to reproductive choice or your fundamental rights to anything, you better go vote in the fall," she insisted.

And Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders suggested that the court's draft required Congress to act immediately.

“Congress must pass legislation that codifies Roe v.

Wade as a national norm in this country NOW,” he tweeted.

"And if there isn't 60 votes in the Senate to do it, and there isn't, we need to end the filibuster to pass it with 50 votes."

• These are the US states where the right to abortion would be under threat if Roe vs.

  Wade

Polls suggest this topic could be downright motivating for Democrats, and even independents.

In a January CNN poll, nearly 7 in 10 Americans (69%) said they opposed the Supreme Court overturning Roe v.

Wade.

That includes 86% of Democrats and 72% of independents.

More than 1 in 3 said they would be "angry" if the high court overturned the ruling, while another quarter said they would be "dissatisfied" with the decision.

Only 14% said the decision would make them "happy."

Among Democrats, a majority, 51%, said the decision would make them "angry," while 29% of Republicans said it would make them "happy."

The Supreme Court would annul the right to abortion in the US 0:54

Bottom line: There are very few issues that can claim to change or fundamentally alter the trajectory of an election.

But overturning the historic Roe v.

Wade may well be one of them.

Judging by the initial reaction to the Supreme Court's draft -- and how Democrats attempted to frame it as the issue of the 2022 midterms -- Democrats have at least some reason to believe that the problem of their base's lethargy will be resolved. has resolved (or at least changed in a very real way).

AbortionSupreme CourtElectionsmidterm elections