The editors at Scientific American, which it says is the “oldest continuously published magazine in the United States,” is endorsing Democratic presidential candidate and current Vice President Kamala Harris in this year’s race for the White House.
It’s only the second time that the magazine has published such an endorsement. The first was for Democratic candidate Joe Biden in the 2020 race for president — when Harris was his running mate.
In an article explaining their decision, the Scientific American editors compare Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump on a host of issues, including pandemic readiness, access to reproductive health care, and dealing with climate change.
Trump “refused to answer the question of whether he would veto a federal abortion ban, saying Congress would never approve such a ban in the first place. He made no mention of an executive order and praised the Supreme Court, three justices of which he placed, for sending abortion back to states to decide. This ruling led to a patchwork of laws and entire sections of the country where abortion is dangerously limited,” the magazine wrote.
Trump has, indeed, expressed pride in — and taken some ownership of — the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, which until its 2022 reversal had provided decades of legal protection for abortion and reproductive health care across the United States. The case’s undoing allowed legislators to pursue their own agendas on abortion.
And while the magazine didn’t specify all of this, although the Trump administration was involved in the speedy development of vaccines for COVID-19, the Right — particularly under Trump — quickly turned against protective measures targeting the virus and other contagious diseases, and Trump does not routinely tout that major accomplishment under his administration. While still in office, Trump already was blasting attempts at protecting the public.
“At the top of the ballot, Harris does deserve our vote. She offers us a way forward lit by rationality and respect for all,” the publication’s editors concluded, in part.
