Against the advice of Democratic Party stalwarts and despite polls showing the abortion question’s declining importance to voters, President Biden on Tuesday signaled that he and the Democrats intend to lean even further into making that the party’s principal issue ahead of the midterms.

During a speech at Washington, Mr. Biden pledged that the first piece of legislation he intends to send Congress after the election is one that would codify the protections outlined in the now-overturned Roe v. Wade decision. If, that is, the Democrats manage to keep control of Congress — a long shot by most accounts.

Mr. Biden told audience members at the Howard Theatre to keep fresh in their minds the anger they felt when the Supreme Court announced its decision in the Dobbs case in June, and repeatedly attacked Republicans around the country who rushed to pass anti-abortion laws in the decision’s wake.

“If you care about the right to choose, then you gotta vote,” Mr. Biden said. “The only sure way to stop these extremist laws that are putting in jeopardy women’s health and rights is for Congress to pass a law.”

The statement marks the first time that Mr. Biden has publicly embraced the issue during this election cycle. His fellow Democrats on the campaign trail, however, have been all in on abortion since the summer. While doing so might have been a prudent decision at the time, it may make less sense now that the anger Mr. Biden attempted to conjure up in his speech appears to have faded among many voters.

Polls taken just after the decision suggested that abortion was, for a time, a leading contender for issue of the year. One by Gallup said a record number of Americans described themselves as favoring abortion rights. Another, by Pew, saw a jump in the number of people who said abortion would be an important issue for them in upcoming elections.

Early election results seemed to favor the issue as well. Voters in Kansas surprised pundits in August by voting overwhelmingly against a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would have allowed legislators to ban abortion. Voter registration among women in the state jumped ahead of the vote, suggesting the issue was motivating a key voting bloc.

Since then, however, persistent inflation, skyrocketing gas prices, and a foundering stock market have pushed abortion down the list of important issues. While most Americans, by far, support a women’s right to abortion, economic issues have become the dominant gripe among would-be voters. A Gallup poll from September counted 4 percent of Americans as saying abortion was the country’s defining issue, a number that was down from a peak of 8 percent in July.

Democrats on the campaign trail haven’t gotten the message, though. Candidate debates have been dominated by the topic, and Democrats have increased the number of abortion-related ads four-fold between August and September. An analysis of ad spending by AdImpact for Politico found that the party has spent nearly $18 million to air more than 100 ads in four-dozen states as of the end of September. The figure is three times more than the party spent on the issue for the entirety of the 2018 midterms.

Typical of the ads is one released this week by Congressman Eric Swalwell of California. In it, a woman is accosted at her family’s dinner table by officers informing her she is under arrest for unlawful termination of a pregnancy.

“Elections have consequences,” the narrator says. “Vote Democrat on November 8th. Stop Republicans from criminalizing abortion everywhere. Protect women’s rights and freedom.” 

A Democratic strategist, James Carville, says such scare tactics are not going to fly with voters. “It’s a good issue,” Mr. Carville told the Associated Press. “But if you just sit there and they’re pummeling you on crime and pummeling you on the cost of living, you’ve got to be more aggressive than just yelling abortion every other word.”

Another elder statesman in the party, Senator Sanders, had a similar warning for his fellow Democrats as Election Day gets closer.

“While the abortion issue must remain on the front burner, it would be political malpractice for Democrats to ignore the state of the economy and allow Republican lies and distortions to go unanswered,” he said.