President Trump’s tough stand on immigration – the signature issue that powered his 2016 campaign – continues to get high marks from Republican voters, and GOP House candidates are joining in as the November elections approach.
A new Harvard/Harris poll shows 76 percent of Republicans surveyed support Trump’s immigration policies.
Another recent survey pointed to broadening support for stricter curbs on immigration – both illegal and legal.
Two states tell the story in the Pulse Opinion Research poll:
- Wisconsin voters, who went for Trump in 2016, favor reducing legal immigration by a margin of 57 percent to 31 percent.
- More surprisingly, voters in California – a deep blue state with the highest percentage of immigrants – support immigration cuts by an almost identical percentage, 57-32.
Equally stunning: Only 38 percent of California voters favor continuing chain migration; 51 percent said Congress should allow “immigrants to bring in only their spouse and minor children.”
USA Today reported this week that Republican congressional candidates – formerly reticent to speak out about immigration — are clamoring aboard Trump’s bandwagon.
So far this election cycle, GOP candidates have aired more than 14,000 campaign ads touting a tough Trump-style immigration platform.
USA Today called the emphasis on immigration “a dramatic shift from the midterm elections in 2014” – at least as far as conservative and independent voters are concerned.
Democratic House candidates, meantime, are saying little or nothing about the issue.
During a closed-door meeting with fellow Republicans, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California warned backsliding members that softer immigration policies – including an extension of President Obama’s controversial Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program – could demoralize the GOP base and end party control of the lower chamber.