In his 10 years as a presidential contender Donald Trump has always benefited politically by attacking immigrants, winning support for his promises of a hardline border crackdown. Yet now that’s he’s actually doing it — and in such a cruel fashion — the president is, for the first time, getting poor marks from voters, with a YouGov poll finding that 50% of Americans disapprove of his handling of what has often been his most popular issue.
The administration’s focus on smearing Maryland man Kilmar Abrego García, whom it illegally sent to a Salvadoran mega-prison without due process, has backfired, with American adults saying 50-28 that he should be brought back. It seems like Trump has underestimated some of the basic decency of the electorate.
Americans believe in fairness and compassion and Trump has been the opposite in his unbound eagerness to round up people. When the U.S. Supreme Court repeatedly and unanimously says that due process and access to the courts is must for people facing government action, citizens agree. Arresting university students based on speech alone and defying court orders is not what the voters thought they were getting.
A defining characteristic of Trump throughout his chaotic time in political life is that he’s quite malleable on most policy positions, depending on who he last spoke to, what seems to be getting him the most adulation and what the base responds to. He launched his first campaign by bashing immigrants as murderers and rapists and has ridden an ever-more-draconian immigration message through three White House campaigns and two victories.
We doubt that cratering poll numbers, including immigration, will prompt a complete heel turn from a president that is also surrounded by true-believer anti-immigrant zealots like Stephen Miller, but it could well act as a signal that maybe he is going too far.