Education is an "iceberg" that will sink Democrats' chances in the midterms, argues Hugh Hewitt in a Washington Post commentary.
Republican candidates are capitalizing on voters' belief that "transgender rights" have gone too far, he writes. That's a "super-majority" position, according to polls. For example, 58 percent of adults want transgender athletes to compete on teams that match their biological sex, according to Pew Research.
In addition, "GOP candidates are campaigning against race-conscious program admissions, as well as curriculum and indoctrination by teachers on issues related to sexuality, gender and race," Hewitt writes.
Voters used to prefer Democrats on education. That's over, he writes. "Republicans enjoy greater trust."
President Biden is "under water" with parents of school-aged children, reports the Monmouth Poll. Sixty-nine percent disapprove of Biden's job performance; 24 percent approve. In 2020, Biden won among parents of school-age children, 52 percent to 46 percent, according to the New York Times.
Republicans have championed school choice. In Arizona, Republican Gov. Doug Ducey signed a “funding follows the student” law expanding school choice. Now some Democrats are climbing on the bandwagon.
J.B. Pritzker, running for a second term as governor of Illinois, has flipped on tax-credit scholarships.
Josh Shapiro, the Democratic candidate for governor of Pennsylvania, has endorsed school choice. "I think we can invest in public education and empower parents to put their kids in the best opportunity for them to succeed, and I don’t think we have to harm public schools in the process," he told reporters.
Next week, the Nation's Report Card will release national and state by state scores for fourth- and eighth-graders, plus scores for two-dozen large urban districts. There will be breakdowns for racial subgroups, special education students and English learners, as well as for charter and Catholic school students.
If "red states outperform blue ones because they mostly got their kids back to in-person learning faster," that could help Republican governors and hurt Democrats, writes Fordham's Mike Petrilli on The 74. Democrats in Nevada, Wisconsin and Kansas are not leading by big margins, he points out.
Of course, the big three issues are inflation, inflation and inflation.