As Attorney General Merrick Garland today faced Republicans angry with his order to investigate parents who clash with liberal school boards, a new survey was released showing little support for the policy from President Joe Biden’s top prosecutor.
The new poll found that 57% oppose Garland’s recent order that the FBI be called in to investigate angry parents. Only 19% agreed with the question: “Do you support the U.S. Attorney General’s directing the FBI to investigate concerned parents attending public school board meetings?”
Garland’s order came in early October, and it has already drawn lawsuits who feel the goal is to hound and muzzle parents opposed to liberal drives to teach critical race theory in classes and moves by state and local school boards to institute gender-fluid policies.
The survey was the latest done by the Trafalgar Group for Convention of States Action.
It found that while partisans are divided in their passion for the issue, more Democrats and Republicans than not oppose Garland’s efforts.
Among Democrats, 37% oppose Garland’s FBI plan, 29% support it, and 33% are not sure.
Among Republicans, 73% oppose the plan, 9% support it, and 17% are not sure.
This issue has become a hot one in the Virginia gubernatorial race in which Republican Glenn Youngkin has slammed Democrat Terry McAuliffe for saying at a debate that he stands against parents “telling schools what they should teach.”
For all those who called us GOP homers for our most recent #VAGov #Poll. Please explain how #Monmouth is also carrying water for Republicans?? https://t.co/Xch5SvdoXD
— Robert C. Cahaly (@RobertCahaly) October 20, 2021
Since he made that comment and Youngkin started advertising off it, polls from the Left and the Right have shown a dead-even race.
Mark Meckler, president of Convention of States Action, said he wasn’t surprised by the new survey results.
“The very idea that our attorney general would direct our nation’s federal law enforcement to target everyday moms and dads who are rightly concerned about their children’s education is shocking and hard to fathom,” he said. “These are the tactics of totalitarians in places like China and North Korea, not here in America.”
He also addressed the gaps in the survey, especially the high number of those unsure on the issue.
“One can plainly see that those who are aware that Merrick Garland made this announcement oppose him by large majorities, while there’s a group who marked ‘not sure’ because they don’t know about his announcement or don’t know enough about it,” he added. “The nearly 20% who support Garland’s attack on parents are consistent throughout all of our polls, in which we see that roughly this percentage of voters will support practically anything the Democrats support — a scary reality in these challenging times.”
