Education became a surprisingly important factor in the final month of Virginia’s election for governor, with Republican Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin successfully hammering Democrat Terry McAuliffe for saying during a debate, “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”
McAuliffe made the statement when he explained why he opposed allowing parents to remove books they objected to from school libraries or curriculums, and the sentiment was found to be widely unpopular among Virginia voters, according to a statewide exit poll. …
Education as a campaign issue might strike a nerve more with parents. A Youngkin campaign ad featured a Fairfax County parent criticizing McAuliffe for vetoing a bill that would give parents the right to opt children out of sexually explicit reading assignments. However, exit polling and other polling data do not find much of a split between how parents and non-parents voted in the election. CONTINUED
Scott Clement, Washington Post
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