We Know Trump Supporters Would Back Immigrant Legalization If He Did

Inan interview this weekend, Donald Trump officially dumped plans to deport all unauthorized immigrants, stating that he would focus only on criminals. Trump didn ’t specify how he would handle non-criminals, but he shouldn’t hold back on advocating full legalization for fear of losing his backers. His earlier attempts at softening show he can maintain their support; in fact, Trump’s supporters appear more interested in border security than deportation anyway.During the early part of his campaign, Trump secured a huge amount of support among primary voters who opposed legalization. He then spent the remainder of his campaign trying to convince other Republicans that mass deportation was the way to go.But it never worked. In fact, Pew Research Center polls show that more Republicans supported legalization after his campaign than before it —rising from 56 percent to 59 percent from March 2015 to March 2016. By the time of the election, 60 percent of self-described Trump voters told Pew that they favored legalization. Trump simply failed to win the argument.In late August, it seemed like Trump realized that his case was falling on deaf ears, so he toyed with a pivot. During an interview on Fox, he polled a very large audience of supporters. When he asked if they favored mass deportation, the room remained mostly quiet. When he asked about a plan to let non-criminal unauthorized immigrants “stay in some form,” the crowd cheered. He promised that “we’ll work with t...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs