Both parties missing what voters want

Republicans and Democrats alike seem to have convinced themselves that this November’s midterm elections will be a referendum on President Joe Biden for his abysmal handling of the economy. That’s why Republicans have spent so much time talking about skyrocketing inflation rates and prices and Democrats have spent as much time trying not to talk about these issues at all. And while it is certainly true that voters care a lot about the things that affect their wallets directly, it would be foolish for either party to underestimate the influence cultural issues will have on voters.

The Washington Examiner has been tracking the top issues on voters’ minds for the past month, particularly in the swing states that will determine control of Congress. What we’ve found by following how voters are researching our top issues — abortion, crime, education, inflation, and taxes — is that there is a wide gap between what candidates are talking about on the campaign trail and what the voters want them to talk about.

In Michigan , for example, Democrats have zeroed in on abortion, hoping that a ballot initiative to add abortion rights to the state constitution will galvanize their own base as well as independent voters. But our research shows that abortion is the very last issue on voters’ minds. It comes in dead last to education, taxes, crime, and then inflation.

In Pennsylvania , the situation is the same. Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman has made abortion a key part of his platform, but our research shows Pennsylvanians aren’t nearly as concerned about it as he is. They care much more about education, crime, taxes, and inflation.

But Democrats aren’t the only ones missing the mark. Republicans’ campaign messaging this year has been laser-focused on the economy, with much less of a focus on cultural battles such as school choice and parental rights.

These latter issues, however, are what voters are paying attention to the most, according to our research. This shouldn’t come as a surprise: Families are still reeling from the effects of COVID-19 school closures, and parents in particular are much more engaged and aware of what’s happening in the education system today than they were two years ago. They’re concerned about gender ideology, critical race theory, and the efforts by woke school administrators to lock them out of the classroom, and they’re no longer shy about demanding change.

These are the voters who are going to make the difference in November, just as they did last year. That’s good news for Republicans since polls show the majority of voters side with the GOP on issues such as education freedom and woke curriculum. But it’s not at all clear whether the GOP plans to take advantage of this opportunity. The party still talks and acts like it’s stuck in the era of fiscal conservatism, which, important though it might be, is not the electoral slam dunk they seem to think it is.

Still, there’s no question Republicans are more engaged culturally than they used to be. House Republicans’ Commitment to America’s “Parents’ Bill of Rights,” which lists curricular transparency and parental involvement as core priorities, is a good start. Even better is Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s recent guidance prohibiting public schools from socially transitioning gender-confused children behind their parents’ backs. These are commonsense measures that, despite the Left’s best efforts, are also largely popular. In short, I suspect there’s a large chunk of voters for whom inflation and abortion are not motivating issues. Whichever party is able to court them on the issues that they do care about, such as education or crime, will be the party that wins.

... Democrats aren’t the only ones missing the mark. Republicans’ campaign messaging this year has been laser-focused on the economy, with much less of a focus on cultural battles such as school choice and parental rights.