Soccer moms deserting Biden causes alarm for Democrats

THE Democrats could be doomed at next year’s midterms after losing one of the most important voting blocs – white women, who turned out in huge numbers in Virginia in protest at “toxic” Joe Biden.

The little-known Republican Glenn Youngkin defeated Democratic veteran Terry Mcauliffe for state governor this week, riding a wave of support from suburban “soccer moms”.

Accounting for nearly three quarters of women voters and 40 per cent of the electorate, white women backed businessman Mr Youngkin 57 to 43 per cent, according to NBC News exit polls – a 15-point swing over 2020, when white women in Virginia narrowly sided with Mr Biden over Donald Trump.

While education, and what is on the school curriculum, were important issues, poll data shows it was the dislike of Mr Biden that proved decisive. Sixtythree per cent of white women without college degrees said they “strongly disapprove” of him as president, with 75 per cent of them voting for Mr Youngkin.

Tapping into the bloc would be rich territory for the Republicans as the group proved elusive for Mr Trump. If the GOP can replicate their Virginia margin, Democrats would struggle to win close races across the country.

“Youngkin put together a coalition where he did even better than Trump with base voters and rural voters, and he improved a lot in the suburbs, where

Trump was toxic,” former Virginia Republican Representative Barbara Comstock said on MSNBC.

Governor-elect and father of four Mr Youngkin, 54, made schools and education a key part of his campaign, and this resonated with white women without college degrees.

The Independent Women’s Voice created TV adverts depicting sexually explicit materials available to students in school libraries in the state, but the networks refused to broadcast them over “pornography concerns”.

The network has over 125,000 followers on Facebook, where members opine on issues ranging from rising inflation to Mr Biden’s “woke” agenda.

“What’s happening in Virginia public schools is about a culture controlled by government employees, politicians, and activists who do not want parental involvement,” the group’s administrators write in one post.

‘Youngkin put together a coalition where he did even better than Trump with base voters and rural voters’