Michael Bloomberg warns Democrats are 'headed for wipeout' in 2022 elections: 'Up and down the ballot'

Democrat Michael Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor, is warning his party they are headed for a “wipeout” in the 2022 midterm elections if the Democratic Party does not quickly change course.

What is the background?

Recent elections in Virginia and San Francisco have sent up warning flares for the Democratic Party, putting them on notice for being on the wrong side of education politics.

In fact, angry parents — upset over heavy-handed COVID-19 policies that kept schools shutdown and caused children to fall behind — are responsible for Republican Glenn Youngkin's surprise victory in the Virginia gubernatorial race last November, as well as the recall of three far-left members of San Francisco's school board last week.

What did Bloomberg say?

Bloomberg warned in an essay Tuesday that the Democratic Party is "headed for a wipeout in November, up and down the ballot" if they do not begin listening to voters, particularly on the issue of schools.

Speaking of the recall in San Francisco, Bloomberg explained, "Coming from America’s most liberal city, those results should translate into a 7 to 8 on the Richter scale, because the three main factors that drove the recall are not unique to the Bay Area," referring to the school board's COVID-related school shutdown, politically correct progressive agenda, and the transition away from merit-based outcomes.

To fix this problem, Bloomberg advised the Democratic Party to engage in humility.

"Voters need to hear from Democrats that schools remained closed for too long, and that improving schools means closing achievement gaps, not eliminating standards," Bloomberg said.

"Swing voters will decide the 2022 midterm elections, and right now, polls show they are swinging away from Democrats," the billionaire businessman added. "The earthquake that shook San Francisco needs to shake up our party, before voters do it themselves in November."

What does polling show?

Polling confirms what Bloomberg and other Democrats are saying.

For example, a new Emerson College poll published this week found that Republicans hold a 9 point advantage over Democrats on the generic ballot. The figure was not an extreme outlier, considering the average of generic ballot polling shows Republicans with a healthy 4.5-point advantage over Democrats, and a recent Rasmussen poll showed the GOP advantage to be 13 points.

If Republicans maintain their advantage, they will almost undoubtedly retake control of Congress in the midterm elections.

Meanwhile, Democrats' own internal polling shows that voters have soured on the party's agenda, particularly as it relates to schools, COVID-19, the economy, and the border crisis. Internal research data also showed that "battleground voters" describe Democrats as "preachy," "judgmental," and "focused on the culture wars."