President Trump Could Win Over Suburban Moms on School Opening Issue | Eastern North Carolina Now

Publisher's note: This post appears here courtesy of the LifeZette, and written by David Kamioner.

    Across the nation President Trump has a political problem with educated upscale suburban moms: they just don't like him in serious numbers. Though they approved of his economic results before COVID and may have given him some votes on that alone.

    But since everyone including the administration has punted the ball on the virus, these women are back to vociferously abhorring the president's tone, manner, swagger, and shoot-from-the-hip remarks. The press, of course, magnifies every presidential misstep. Though the president's recent reference to "suburban housewives" wasn't the smartest thing to say.

    What makes Trump wildly popular with other groups leaves these fish cold. However, when an issue cuts as close to home as does school openings, some may just pull the lever for him anyway. If they do, they will not be completely alone.

    Suburban moms know that Trump and conservatives in general want the schools to open and are hip to the Democrat plan to kowtow to the teachers unions and keep them closed. They desperately want the schools open because they've been trapped mostly indoors with their progeny since the spring. A case in point is in Greenville, South Carolina. There, a school board race is a microcosm of the larger debate and could be indicative of trends on this issue nationwide. South Carolina GOP ace operative Stacy Shea, in the thick of it, fills us in.

    "Parents with young families tend to mostly stay out of politics. They're too busy raising their children and trying to get ahead in their careers. Because of how officials are planning to reopen our schools this fall, that has changed. In Greenville County, South Carolina, six of our twelve school board trustees are up for re-election in November. All six of them have drawn challengers. Concerned citizens are already fielding candidates for the remaining six school board seats that will be up for reelection in 2022. Nothing like this has happened here before.

    "Historically there has been the occasional challenger, but to have all six seats being challenged at the same time is unprecedented. It's because there seems to be little or no consideration on the part of the current school board or the superintendent of schools for the risks associated with continued closure. Academic delay, mental health, protracted isolation, lack of ability for children to report abuse, forfeiture of scholarships for athletes, parents who may lose their jobs because they've got to be home with their kids, special needs children who are being woefully underserved, and single parents who have to figure out how to manage working and distance learning all factor in. As parents, we can shoulder a measure of bad decisions from our elected officials. All that changes when those decisions have such negative implications for our children and their future.

    "If it's happening here, it's happening in other school districts throughout the country. People who are averse to politics are getting involved.. Our children and their education is the ultimate dinner table issue. The bureaucratic public education complex and teachers unions have gone too far this time."

    Shea is right. What's happening in Greenville could spread like a prairie fire across America, as parents of all political stripes and for myriad reasons fight teachers unions and educrats for the right to send their kids to school. In this fight, parents know whom they are up against. Not coincidentally, it's the same people trying to defeat the president. Realizing that, many parents, including a serious number of suburban moms, may vote accordingly.