The Democrats Are Idiots, Cont.

By Rich Lowry

Sunday, July 17, 2022

 

The American Federation of Teachers has conducted a “shock poll” that shouldn’t be shocking to anyone who doesn’t live in the progressive bubble — the education positions set out by Ron DeSantis are widely popular.

 

From NBC News:

 

One poll question found that voters, by a 32 percentage-point margin, said they were more likely to vote for candidates who believe public schools should focus less on teaching race and more on core subjects. By 27 points, they said schools should be banned from teaching sexual orientation and gender identity to kids in kindergarten through third grade. By 28 points, they said transgender athletes should be banned from competing in girls’ sports.

 

The same poll suggests DeSantis has been smart about where to draw the line. Most voters said they would be less likely to back candidates who want to prosecute teachers for instructing students on critical race theory and gender identity. The same goes for candidates who want books removed from school libraries, although DeSantis on Friday bashed some books as being too sexualized, and some Florida schools are banning books.

 

The NBC News story quotes a Dem politico hitting on what would seem to be a common-sensical insight: If CRT supposedly isn’t being taught in the schools, why do Democrats bother defending it?

 

In Florida, former Democratic state House member and political organizer Sean Shaw marveled at DeSantis’ ability to “pick fights where he knows we have to respond and where it can be a problem for us,” specifically by highlighting alleged problems that don’t really exist in the classroom or exaggerating their prevalence.

 

“Look, I’m a Black man. All I want to do is talk critical race theory. But I can’t. It’s stupid. When you go to a Black barbershop, they’re not talking about CRT. They’re talking about the price of gas and rent,” Shaw said.

 

Maybe the AFT poll is the beginning of Democrats wising up in these issues, but it’s more likely that the party’s base is too drunk on contempt for cultural conservatives and fired up by a sense of woke righteousness to modulate on this stuff.