By Philip Klein
Tuesday, October 26, 2021
Terry McAuliffe made an extraordinary in-kind
contribution to the campaign of his Republican opponent, Glenn Youngkin, when
he declared during their debate that, “I don’t think parents should be telling
schools what they should teach.” In no small part due to that one comment, a
governor’s race that looked like a sure thing for Democrats is effectively
a toss-up with a week to go.
If Youngkin manages to pull off the upset, most political
observers will look at this McAuliffe comment as a turning point in the race.
But while many people have portrayed the statement as a gaffe, in reality, all
McAuliffe was doing was expressing a view that is held by an overwhelming
majority of Democrats. And this is backed up by a new poll from USA
Today/Suffolk, which shows a tied race.
At one point the pollsters asked, “Should parents or school boards have more of an
influence on a school’s curriculum?” Overall, 50 percent said parents and 39 percent
said school boards. But the partisan breakdown is something to behold. While
Republicans, 79 percent to 12 percent, said parents should have more influence,
the numbers were reversed for Democrats, with 70 percent saying school boards
should have more of a say and only 16 percent siding with parents. Among
independents, it was 57-32 in favor of parents.
Whether or not Youngkin is able to overcome the huge
built-in advantages Democrats have in Virginia and emerge victorious, the
competitiveness of the race suggests that Republicans running next year should
lean into the idea of giving parents more of a say over their children’s
educations. The issue has become even more salient as a result of the teachers’
union-driven school closures that forced parents to become more involved in
what their children were being taught in public schools.
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