Trump's push to reopen schools part of bid to boost suburban standing

By James Oliphant and Jarrett Renshaw

 

FILE PHOTO: The entrance to Public School 159 is seen in the Queens borough of New York City, New York, U.S., July 8, 2020. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's demand for U.S. schools to fully reopen this fall amid the coronavirus pandemic is central to an emerging re-election strategy that seeks to resuscitate his flagging support in the nation's critical suburbs.

 

Trump in recent weeks has taken stances on hot-button issues his campaign hopes will appeal to suburban voters, particularly women, who have soured on the Republican president since his 2016 election and continue to move away as the virus rages across the country and the economy sputters.

 

Along with aggressively pushing for students to return to classrooms - "Schools must be open in the Fall," he tweeted on Friday - Trump has warned of rising urban crime rates and threats to civil order in the wake of protests over racial injustice while pointing to the vibrant stock market as a marker of economic health.

 

The messaging amounts to a fresh effort to position Trump as the candidate of public safety and social and economic stability, several people close to the campaign said.

 

So far, there is little sign the approach is working. Trump trails his presumptive Democratic opponent in the Nov. 3 election, Joe Biden, in both national and battleground state polls.

 

A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted last week found that in the nation’s suburbs, just 36% said they approve of Trump, while 59% disapprove. Among suburban women, three in 10 approve of Trump, while four in 10 men support the president.

 

Suburbs in key election states such as Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Florida are filled with affluent swing voters, and many feature large, robust public school systems.

 

Shannon K. Alsop, a 39-year-old doctor and mother of two school-age children in prosperous Bucks County outside of Philadelphia, said Trump is politicizing the reopening of America’s schools because he believes it will benefit his campaign.

 

“At the end of the day, all of us parents just want our families to be safe," Alsop said. “The question is, Can we open our schools and have them be safe? I want that decision to be founded in research and science. I don’t trust the president to make that call for us.”

 

Trump's campaign views K-12 schools' reopening as one key to an economic recovery, allowing working parents with young children to be more productive while addressing concerns that distance learning is harmful to some students.

 

Public schools also provide meals and other social services for at-risk children.

 

“It’s about the economy. It’s about the education of their kids,” said Rick Gorka, a spokesman for the Trump campaign. “Parents are extremely frustrated.”

 

"TIME TO GET BACK TO NORMAL"

At a White House event on schools last week, Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos advocated for their opening in contravention of the guidelines set forth by government public-health experts. The president has threatened to strip schools of federal funds if they fail to comply.

 

The Republican president's re-election effort sees re-opening schools shuttered by the coronavirus as part of a plan to restore his standing among suburban voters. This report produced by Zachary Goelman.

 

School districts across the country are taking a cautious approach to reopening as U.S. COVID-19 cases reached the 3 million mark last week. Many districts plan to will offer a mix of in-person and online learning, and say they will require masks and social distancing on school grounds.

Some parents are keen to see schools reopen.

 

Virginia Lee, 37, a registered nurse in Bucks County, said while she does not support Trump, she agrees with his push on schools. Her two school-age children learned little from the virtual instruction provided during shutdowns in the spring, she said.

 

“I don't usually agree with anything about Trump. I do agree schools need to open back up," Lee said. "It’s time to get back to normal."

 

Bucks County split very narrowly in favor of Hillary Clinton in 2016, with the Democratic candidate winning by a 0.8 percentage point margin over Trump.

 

Biden’s position on reopening has largely been in line with that of the teachers’ unions that back his candidacy, which have criticized Trump’s demands as dangerous. The president of the American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, warned last week that a full reopening of schools could lead to an exodus of educators.

 

The former vice president also wants schools to reopen, Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates said, and has “laid out clear steps that would give schools the guidance, resources and support they need to do so."

 

Joe Zepecki, a Democratic strategist and parent who lives in Shorewood, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee, said the issue is “coming up more and more” in his community but is too nuanced for Trump to gain traction.

 

“Parents absolutely want kids back in school, but it’s not a straightforward either-or dynamic. The concerns are many and varied,” Zepecki said. “The president is casting about for a resonant issue he can latch onto that is overwhelmingly popular and gets him back in the game. This ain’t it.”

 

(Reporting by James Oliphant in Washington and Jarrett Renshaw in Bucks County, Pennsylvania; Additional reporting by Chris Kahn; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Leslie Adler)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-07-13

 

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If he thinks forcing parents to send their kids to school during a pandemic putting them their families teachers and staff at risk he’s mistaken big time on so many levels just beggers belief he thinks that would help him

But if he thinks about getting 50 million cooped up little kids out of mom's hair after almost half a year he will win by a landslide. Woman's vote across all ethnic boundaries.  Slam dunk, thank you ma'am.

 

7 minutes ago, rabas said:

But if he thinks about getting 50 million cooped up little kids out of mom's hair after almost half a year he will win by a landslide. Woman's vote across all ethnic boundaries.  Slam dunk, thank you ma'am.

 

Ahhh no most moms wouldent think of exposing their children to death and disease not to mention the rest of the family trump is grasping at straws

 

If schools completely reopen, Betsy DeVos (Secretary of Education) said only .02% would likely die. That's about 15,000 kids. Anyone with a working brain knows the virus needs to be contained before even THINKING of reopening. Look how well it worked for businesses, and now you want to sacrifice CHILDREN on the pyre of fueling capitalism? I saw an interview of her, she couldn't answer simple questions like "Should schools adhere to CDC guidelines?" Her stock answer to nearly every question was "We want all schools to reopen."

12 minutes ago, J Town said:

If schools completely reopen, Betsy DeVos (Secretary of Education) said only .02% would likely die. That's about 15,000 kids. Anyone with a working brain knows the virus needs to be contained before even THINKING of reopening. Look how well it worked for businesses, and now you want to sacrifice CHILDREN on the pyre of fueling capitalism? I saw an interview of her, she couldn't answer simple questions like "Should schools adhere to CDC guidelines?" Her stock answer to nearly every question was "We want all schools to reopen."

Well ... 0,02% sounds much better than 15000 does it not ?

37 minutes ago, Tug said:

Ahhh no most moms wouldent think of exposing their children to death and disease not to mention the rest of the family trump is grasping at straws

 

VERY FEW cases of Covid affect children and even less get ill from it. You have succumbed to the media propaganda spreading fear in the communities. There will probably never be a vaccine that is more effective than the 'flu vaccine (which is useless in my opinion), so how long do you want to keep these kids out of education? Until after the elections probably.

9 minutes ago, cooked said:

VERY FEW cases of Covid affect children and even less get ill from it. You have succumbed to the media propaganda spreading fear in the communities. There will probably never be a vaccine that is more effective than the 'flu vaccine (which is useless in my opinion), so how long do you want to keep these kids out of education? Until after the elections probably.

STILL with this? They get the virus as does the teacher, the teacher and some students die. Or they get the virus, take it back home, family members die. Thai schools are in the 3rd week of reopening because (and I know the "glass half empty" crew will say how wrong I am) Thailand did a good job of containing the flu. Just today, Florida surpassed the worst number of new cases, and other states are vying for first place. Until the US adequately deals by coming together as a team to combat Covid-19, schools will be just like Florida, Texas, Arizona, California, etc.

 

It's not propaganda that has me concerned. It's the hospitals saying they're having to turn away patients because they don't have the resources to handle the growing number of cases.

 

 

I think if he and melania walk Baron to school, and spend a day or two in the school, then this would go a long way towards pushing the universal get back to school narrative.

 

Hopefully many members of this administration will do the same.

 

larry kudlow can double as the janitor.

 

 

 

 

30 minutes ago, cooked said:

VERY FEW cases of Covid affect children and even less get ill from it. You have succumbed to the media propaganda spreading fear in the communities. There will probably never be a vaccine that is more effective than the 'flu vaccine (which is useless in my opinion), so how long do you want to keep these kids out of education? Until after the elections probably.

Kids are little germ factory’s lol bless their grubby little selfs lol they are not in the high risk group true but they sick or not would certainly spread it and some will become very ill and some will die I’m more fact driven than fear driven It’s killing folks in the 10s of thousands that’s fact it’s highly contagious that’s fact there are tools we have to mitigate it to a point that’s fact this isent about the election per se it’s about saving lives if the leadership is failing in that regard then it certainly does affect my choices in the election 

It would help his cause if DeVos would have been able to say 'yes, it is safe'. But her refusing to assure it is safe to reopen, who is going to believe Trump? 

5 minutes ago, stevenl said:

It would help his cause if DeVos would have been able to say 'yes, it is safe'. But her refusing to assure it is safe to reopen, who is going to believe Trump? 

I saw a recent interview of DeVos, that very question was put to her in a very blunt fashion "Give me a yes or no answer, will schools be safe fully opening up using CDC guidelines?" She just put it in autospin.

14 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

I think if he and melania walk Baron to school, and spend a day or two in the school, then this would go a long way towards pushing the universal get back to scholl narrative.

 

Hopefully many members of this administration will do the same.

 

larry kudlow can double as the janitor.

 

 

little Baron has a private tutor no problem,

Just now, J Town said:

I saw a recent interview of DeVos, that very question was put to her in a very blunt fashion "Give me a yes or no answer, will schools be safe fully opening up using CDC guidelines?" She just put it in autospin.

saw that,  she went into Charlie McCarthy mode as if sitting on trumps lap

7 minutes ago, stevenl said:

It would help his cause if DeVos would have been able to say 'yes, it is safe'.

 

She "earned" $56 million, thank you Amway, in 2019. You can buy a lot of "safe" with that. And your kids never have to see the inside of a public school.

 

Given this administration's past record dealing with Covid, everything should be fine with school openings. Just need to find someone to blame when it goes sideways. "Dr. Fauci please pick up the white courtesy telephone."

 

 

2 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

Given this administration's past record dealing with Covid, everything should be fine with school openings. Just need to find someone to blame when it goes sideways. "Dr. Fauci please pick up the white courtesy telephone."

The administration has recently put a full court press on throwing Dr. Fauci under the bus.

7 minutes ago, J Town said:

I saw a recent interview of DeVos, that very question was put to her in a very blunt fashion "Give me a yes or no answer, will schools be safe fully opening up using CDC guidelines?" She just put it in autospin.

Exactly, that is what I was referring to.

Trump doesn’t care about America or anything else all he cares about is getting reelected he is a psychopath don’t believe signs believe trumps lies if he has another tournament office America will be ruined forever

Yeah I saw the interview with the secretary of education she would not directly answer any question she just like trump

Just now, TheFishman1 said:

Trump doesn’t care about America or anything else all he cares about is getting reelected

 

And he could get re-elected easily were he to communicate clearly, unite the country, depend on science, lead by example. But at every step he makes the WRONG choice.

 

I'm not certain he wants to be re-elected? And not sure if he even knows that he is self-destructing? It could be some manifestation of his myriad mental conditions?

I think we can all agree the stark political division across the nation is a real thing.

 

It will remain until the source of the division is removed and until both sides agree to recognize shared common values.

 

I’ll set that ball rolling.

 

An avowed left leaning liberal I recognize right wing Illiberals love and cherish their children and grandchildren every bit as much as any liberal does.

 

Good luck putting children in harms way and thinking that will be a vote winner.

 

 

6 minutes ago, TheFishman1 said:

Yeah I saw the interview with the secretary of education she would not directly answer any question she just like trump

Not at all unlike her confirmation hearing.

34 minutes ago, J Town said:

The administration has recently put a full court press on throwing Dr. Fauci under the bus.

So true and I perdict that will backfire on trump bigly lol Dr. Fauci has been a big player in literally saving millions of lives over the years most folks aren’t going to buy trumps attempt at discrediting him 

8 minutes ago, Tug said:

So true and I perdict that will backfire on trump bigly

 

I'm not so sure. Maybe.

 

But can his appproval numbers go any lower? I think not.

 

He has a vast array to people and outlets who could paint anyone as a villain.

 

What is amazing is that he can find replacement sycophants, who's vanity precludes them from speaking truth, to praise the president and make silly comments and policy.

 

This Admiral Giroir seems suitably sycophantic.

This is a very complicated issue...no good answer to satisfy all parties...

 

The children will likely do fine...following suggested guidelines...adults, on the other hand, have reason to balk at being put in harm's way...

 

Either way... the President will not likely gain many votes by pressing the issue...

8 hours ago, cooked said:

VERY FEW cases of Covid affect children and even less get ill from it. You have succumbed to the media propaganda spreading fear in the communities. There will probably never be a vaccine that is more effective than the 'flu vaccine (which is useless in my opinion), so how long do you want to keep these kids out of education? Until after the elections probably.

Perhaps children are not "affected" by the virus as you say, but bringing it home to their extended families is another matter. 

I must give it to him. He does such a great job.

He just wants to make sure that every soul in the country gets infected.

And he uses all the tricks in the book.

A rabid animal now feels cornered, mostly by his own actions. 

 

Don't expect any reasoned thought or deed to be forthcoming from Agent Orange. His glory days are behind him; it's all downhill for him. 

10 hours ago, webfact said:

Parents absolutely want kids back in school, but it’s not a straightforward either-or dynamic. The concerns are many and varied,” Zepecki said. “The president is casting about for a resonant issue he can latch onto that is overwhelmingly popular and gets him back in the game. This ain’t it.”

Perfect summation of trumps current behaviour.
 

Also a perfect explanation of why he will in all probability lose in November. He has lost the middle ground voters who gave him a chance in 2016, his debacle of a presidency means they will not do so again. 
 

The fact a Democrat strategist spoke these words does not make them any less true. 

1 minute ago, Bluespunk said:

Also a perfect explanation of why he will in all probability lose in November. He has lost the middle ground voters who gave him a chance in 2016, his debacle of a presidency means they will not do so again.

As well, Joe doesn't carry the hatred people had for Hillary.