Democrats Must Ditch “Defund The Police” According To New Poll

Pollster Douglas Schoen says that Democrats should stop pushing the “defund the police” agenda if they want to stay competitive in 2022.

“The data says to me that if the Democrats go the progressive route they can lose the House and the Senate overwhelmingly in 2022,” Schoen said. “The incoming Biden administration has to understand that unless they take a moderate path, that is a likely potential outcome for the Democrats.”

As a Democrat himself, Schoen has been a longtime pollster for Mike Bloomberg and even worked on the billionaire’s short-lived presidential campaign.

Schoen asked 1,000 voters in a post-election poll whether Joe Biden’s victory was a “mandate for centrist policies” or a “mandate for progressive policies.” A whopping 62% of respondents said centrist while just 28% said progressive.

The survey also found that the Democratic party was hurt in down-ballot races by the “defund the police” movement promoted by progressives. There were 35% of voters who agreed the issue made them “less likely to vote for Democrats,” while 23% said it made them more likely.

The poll only solidified longstanding trends showing self-identified conservatives outbesting self-described liberals 37% to 24%, leaving 36% who said they were “moderate.”

“The hardcore activists, they like AOC. The rest of the country outside of hardcore party activists are not so keen on AOC or her agenda,” Schoen said of the New York representative. “The question for the Democrats is how to keep the progressives on the reservation without fracturing the party.”

About 70% of respondents agree with the centrist Democrats like former Senator Clair McCaskill and Representative Abigail Spanberger making pleas for moderation.

“We need to not ever use the words ‘socialist’ or ‘socialism’ ever again,” Spanberger told her Democratic colleagues.

Barack Obama made a warning this week about “snappy” progressive slogans leading to downfall.

“I guess you can use a snappy slogan, like Defund the Police, but, you know, you lost a big audience the minute you say it, which makes it a lot less likely that you’re actually going to get the changes you want done,” said the former president.