Harry Enten said Americans aren’t with the president as he fumbles on his “core issue.”
CNN’s chief data analyst Harry Enten broke down how Donald Trump has “lost the political battle” in Los Angeles after he deployed the military to respond to protests against his aggressive immigration policies in the city.
On Friday, a day after an appeals court allowed the president to keep control of National Guard troops in the city, Enten pointed to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll showing Trump’s overall net favorability rating (that is, the percent of respondents in favor of his performance minus the percent not in favor) on the LA protests sits at -15 points.
That figure, Enten noted, is “even lower” among independents (which includes those who don’t identify as a Republican or Democrat) at -24 points.
He then turned to how Americans haven’t been in step with Trump’s immigration policies since the LA protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids began earlier this month.
In the same Reuters/Ipsos poll, 49% of respondents indicated that Trump has gone too far compared to 40% of those who replied that he didn’t go far enough with such efforts.
“At this particular point, if the protesters’ idea was to focus the attention on Donald Trump and bring attention to his immigration policies and bring attention to the arrests that have been occurring of immigrants, it seems to me that those protests have been successful,” Enten said.
He went on to highlight recent Pew Research Center polling showing 54% of Americans disapprove of more ICE raids on workplaces where immigrants without legal status may be working (45% of respondents approved of these moves).
Enten proceeded to point out that ICE’s favorability rating has been decreasing amid increased raids by federal agents.
“This is his core issue,” said Enten of Trump and immigration.
“And he’s losing on his core issue at this point.”
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