Mike Pence has wanted to be president for a long time.

That was one factor that impelled him to seek — and win — Indiana’s governorship in 2012 at a time when he was a rising power and potential speaker in the GOP-controlled House.

It was certainly a factor in his eager embrace of Donald Trump’s invitation to join the 2016 Republican ticket, knowing the vice presidency remains the surest path to the presidency.

Unfortunately for Pence, that embrace — and what happened next — has turned into a mixed blessing for the ambitious 64-year-old Hoosier.

On one hand, it gave him a national prominence he never could have gained as a two-term Indiana governor — and his reelection was in some doubt at the time Trump picked him to strengthen the ticket’s appeal to the GOP’s religious conservatives.

But Pence’s principled refusal in the last two weeks of his tenure to abet Trump’s illegal efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat has offset much of his gain from being vice president. It has subjected him to the scorn of Trump and his allies and frequent critical questions on the campaign trail, and it has lowered his favorability among the Republican faithful.

Still, Pence has pursued his dream with a campaign that recalls the more traditional Republican conservatives who might have become the GOP’s standard-bearers in the pre-Trump era. The question for him is whether that appeal still sells in a party that has moved so far from its traditional focus.

Underscoring his approach, Pence has drawn some clear lines with Trump, the overwhelming early GOP front-runner, and the copycat candidacy of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is running a distant second.

Pence also differs with them on abortion, declaring at the recent conference of the Faith & Freedom Coalition that “Every Republican candidate for president should support a ban on abortion before 15 weeks as a minimum nationwide standard.”

Trump, who often takes credit for nominating the three Supreme Court justices who helped overturn legalized abortions last year, has been vague on what should come next.

He told New Hampshire TV station WMUR he would “look at” the proposed 15-week ban and added, “I think we’ll get it done on some level. It could be on different levels, but we’re gonna get it done.”

DeSantis touts the six-week abortion ban enacted this year in Florida and criticized Trump for saying that “many people within the pro-life movement feel that that was too harsh.”

Pence clearly hopes his longtime anti-abortion rights stance will play well with the Christian conservatives who make up a substantial portion of the Republican electorate, especially in Iowa’s Jan. 15 caucuses. In 2016, entrance polling showed they comprised 64% of GOP voters there.

Recently, Politico reported that Iowa polling done by Committed to America, a Pence-affiliated political action committee, showed the former vice president in second place in Iowa with 19%, trailing only Trump.

However, a Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll in May showed that fewer Republicans (66%) had a favorable view of Pence than Trump (80%) or DeSantis (75%). It also said Pence’s favorable dropped to 58% among Iowa evangelicals, and that his 26% unfavorable ranking was higher than the other two.

Still, Pence has no choice but to spend as much time as possible in Iowa, which will be crucial if Trump is to be stopped. Therefore, it was hardly surprising that he formally launched his candidacy in the Des Moines suburb of Ankeny, or that he marched in a July 4 parade in Urbandale, another Des Moines suburb.

But a stop the next day in Sioux City brought evidence that his underlying problem remains. A Republican voter, Luann Bertrand, questioned his refusal to help Trump and said afterward she was unpersuaded by Pence’s lengthy reply that he did the right thing.

Sometimes, in politics, the right thing isn’t the most helpful politically.

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