Fox News
Op-Ed: Sen. Rick Scott
October 27, 2021

It doesn’t take much searching to find analyses from political pundits and the media declaring the death of the Republican Party, due to losses among suburban voters.

"Why The Suburbs Have Shifted Blue," wrote 538. "Suburbs pose challenge for GOP in post-Trump era," declared The Hill. The American Enterprise Institute wrote a report titled "The GOP’s Suburban Dilemma."

In July, the New York Times wrote about what it called "the Big Question of the 2022 Midterms: How Will the Suburbs Swing?"

Now we have an answer: suburban voters are ready to vote for Republicans because they are soundly rejecting the Democrats’ radical agenda.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee, which I chair, recently conducted a poll of suburban voters. Our goal was to figure out where suburban voters stand on the most important political issues and share that information with all Republican committees, campaigns, activists, and states parties.

What’s clear from our polling is that suburban voters have buyer’s remorse. They’re realizing that President Biden is not the moderate they thought he was – in fact, he’s much more liberal than anyone could have imagined. And his radical economic and foreign policy agenda is damaging our economy and our country.

President Biden’s approval is eight points underwater while a whopping 63 percent of suburban voters believe America is on the wrong track, compared to just 27 percent who believe we’re heading in the right direction. That number alone spells disaster for any Democrat on the ballot next year.

65 percent of suburban voters believe that excessive spending and debt are hurting middle class families and causing inflation. 65 percent also believe that overly generous welfare and unemployment benefits are hurting businesses and contributing to a worker shortage.

By significant majorities, suburban voters reject Joe Biden and Washington Democrats’ attacks on American energy, their focus on critical race theory and other radical curriculum, the open borders and amnesty agenda that is fueling a crisis at our Southern Border, and a radical social agenda that allows biological males to play in women’s sports.

A whopping 63 percent of suburban voters believe America is on the wrong track.

59 percent of suburban voters believe the Afghanistan withdrawal was an unfortunate example of incompetence by the Biden Administration while only 12 percent have a high level of confidence in the Biden Administration’s ability to screen Afghanistan refugees.

Maybe most notable of all from our poll: 78 percent of suburban voters believe that public school systems are failing, and our children are falling behind the rest of the world. The last year and a half has highlighted in stark terms the extent to which the Democrat Party fights for the teachers unions, not the students. And parents are noticing.

None of this guarantees Republican success with suburban voters. We need to show up in suburban communities across the country, talk about the dangers of the Democrats’ radical agenda, and show voters that electing Republicans can stop the slide towards socialism and save our country.

However next week’s gubernatorial election in Virginia turns out, it’s clear that Glenn Youngkin is working his tail off to show the voters of Virginia exactly that. He’s highlighting the leftward shift of today’s Democrat Party and the impact it has on communities across his state. If the polls are right, it’s working, in a state that Biden won by 10 points, no less.

The Democrats’ agenda is endangering our communities. It’s making our country less respected. It’s hitting our pocketbooks with inflation and higher taxes. It’s injecting a radical political philosophy into our children’s curriculum.  

The Democrats may not know it yet, but a wave is coming. Voters are rejecting the Democrats’ radical agenda and Republicans have an opportunity to win big in the 2022 election. 

Republican Rick Scott represents Florida in the United States Senate. He is a former Florida governor.