Immigration now top election issue as Americans reject Trump’s cruelty

A recently released poll shows that immigration has become a top issue for voters headed into the midterm election. At the same time, a different poll shows that Trump’s harsh immigration positions are far afield from what most Americans support and believe in.

Polling from Reuters/Ipsos shows immigration is now at the top tier of voter concerns, alongside the economy and health care.

Reuters notes the surge for immigration came as the Trump administration rolled out its so-called “zero tolerance” policy that stripped children from their families at the border.

The Trump administration has been lambasted for separating families, and now has to respond to a court order mandating that families be reunited, since they couldn’t be counted on to do it themselves.

Fifty-two percent of the respondents to Reuters’ poll said they disapprove of how Trump is handling immigration.

The sentiment is echoed in another poll, this one from Washington Post-Schar School, that shows 59 percent disapprove of Trump’s immigration stance. It also shows Democrats are faring better than Trump and his Republican allies when Americans were asked who does a better job of handling immigration.

The same poll shows 70 percent of Americans opposing family separation. Three out of 4 people who answered the poll said the photos and stories of the children taken away from their families bothered them.

The Trump administration has been in damage control mode as it attempts to take the story out of national headlines. Trump repeatedly cited criminal gangs like MS-13 for why he implemented the new policy (even as he tried to blame the fallout on Democrats), but those polled say they don’t believe him. Only 6 percent think immigrants are coming to America as part of the drug trade or gangs.

Far more people in the poll cited “fleeing danger in their home country” and “better paying jobs” for why immigrants come to the United States.

Public opinion continues to show Trump to be on the losing side of immigration, even as Republicans have strategized about using it as a political weapon to keep their majorities.

Along with health care and the Republican threat to strip health insurance from millions if they retain their majorities, the issues most important to voters aren’t lining up with Republican priorities.

America has seen what an unchecked Trump has meant for immigration, and the country doesn’t like it at all.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.