CBS Delivers Bad News To the Party of Riots on Deportations

With the riots in Los Angeles now dominating the news — covered mainly as “lawful” riots — how do Americans see the enforcement of immigration law under the new administration? Democrats clearly believe that the violence in Los Angeles has given them a political opening against Donald Trump and the Republicans. Otherwise, Democrat governors wouldn’t have leapt to defend the illegal aliens and protestors in LA, right?

Well, perhaps they have chosen … poorly. A new poll from CBS News shows that Trump’s deportation policies have majority support, with a clear plurality believing that those policies are making the country safer. And this poll got taken before the rioting began in Los Angeles, displaying to the country the violent radicals opposed to immigration enforcement:

Views of the Trump administration’s deportation program headed into this weekend with positive net approval from Americans, including continued strong backing from the Republican base — but also heavily shaped by contrasting views about which people, and how many, are being targeted for deportation.

A slight majority feel the administration’s deportation efforts are prioritizing people they believe are dangerous criminals. Those who say this are very supportive of the program, and feel the program is making people in the U.S. safer.

Let’s roll through some of the pertinent topline results from this YouGov poll, while noting that CBS’ partner usually tilts a bit away from Trump and Republicans relative to other pollsters. 

• Trump Admin’s Program to Deport Immigrants Illegally in US: 54/46 approve
• Trump’s Deportation Program Makes People in US … 
  • Safer: 42%
  • Less Safe: 30%
  • No Change: 27%
• Trump Admin Is Prioritizing Deportation Of …
  • Dangerous criminals: 53%
  • Those who aren’t dangerous criminals: 47%

Let’s start there, because the framing of these questions is interesting. YouGov made sure to apply Trump’s name on each of these questions, rather than just ask about deportations and enforcement on their own. I’m sure Donald Trump actually appreciates the branding success this may represent, but YouGov probably branded these for another purpose. They probably hoped to get — and may have gotten — a more negative response from those surveyed by tying Trump’s name to each of these questions as a kind of signal. Hint: You’re not supposed to like these!

Even with that branding acting to beg the conclusion, though, the overall response to the new enforcement policies is clearly positive. That should not be a surprise, given the polling we have seen elsewhere, especially in the longitudinal polling from Harvard-Harris CAPS. Immigration enforcement has been the top priority for respondents in their polling all year long, and deportation has been a nearly 80/20 issue each month. In May, 78% of respondents supported the deportation of criminal illegal aliens, and 70% supported the efforts to ‘close’ the border and impose disincentives for illegal border-crossings. Notably, Harvard-Harris CAPS did not attach Trump’s name to those positions, which may account for the stronger support.

They did ask respondents what Trump’s biggest achievements were thus far. Guess which two policies took the gold and silver?

The top two achievements for Trump are both related to immigration enforcement: stopping the illegal border crossings and deportations. Interestingly, those are the top two identified by each partisan demo. While 63% of Democrats say “nothing” when asked about Trump’s achievements, 27% cite these two points as achievements. Half of all independents do the same. 

In other words, Americans voted for this, including what the Department of Homeland Security tried to do in Los Angeles — enforce immigration law. The Democrat ‘leadership’ encouraged activists to obstruct their operations, and in doing so, thwart the will of the electorate. They prefer riots to deportations, and chaos to ordered liberty and democracy. 

Jim Geraghty nails it this morning:

In the coming days, you’re going to see an enormous effort by the Democrats and large swaths of the media to declare that if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had never tried to enforce immigration law in Los Angeles, the city would not be beset by so much widespread violence and unrest this past weekend. Implicit in that argument is the idea that Los Angeles city and county are so primed for violence, such a powder keg of anarchic malcontents, that the U.S. government must simply throw up its hands and concede that it cannot enforce immigration law there. You see, this reflects how the likes of Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass approach governing — when a task is too difficult, they just don’t even make the attempt. 

Is there any doubt why Americans voted for the other leadership option? Especially when they clearly want an end to illegal immigration and an effort made to kick out the illegal aliens who cause trouble? Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass are making it clear that voters in 2024 chose … wisely.