When President Joe Biden visits Brownsville, Texas, on Thursday, he will be working to raise awareness about congressional Republicans tanking a bipartisan border deal aimed at addressing an influx of migrants.
In fact, when congressional Republicans were preparing to torpedo their own deal earlier this month at Donald Trump's direction, Biden promised they would live to regret it. “If the bill fails, I want to be absolutely clear about something: The American people are going to know why it fails," Biden warned.
On Thursday, Biden will kickstart that public education, and new polling suggests his efforts are both needed and could pay off handsomely with voters.
According to survey results published by the progressive consortium Navigator Research on Thursday, less than a quarter of voters (23%) reported hearing "a lot" about the recent border-deal talks, which Trump scuttled so he could run on the immigration issue. Another 32% said they heard "some" about the negotiations, with 45% saying they had heard only “a little” or “nothing.”
The survey also highlighted that the more voters who are informed of that potential legislation, the better it stands to play politically for the president and Democrats.
Asked how they feel about a measure that "would have increased funding for border security and made it harder for migrants to claim asylum," 66% of voters said they would support such a law, including 64% of independents and at least 7 in 10 Republicans.
Navigator also tested how support changes once people are told that Biden agreed to sign the bill but it failed after "Trump told Republicans to vote against it."
Unsurprisingly, approval of the deal takes a hit among GOP voters, particularly “very conservative” Republicans. Their net support fell by 65 percentage points once they were informed of Biden’s and Trump’s stances on the bill, with just 29% supporting it.
But among "not very conservative" Republicans, the border deal still garners a 41% plurality of support, with just 24% in opposition. Similarly, a 49% plurality of independents support the deal, with just 19% in opposition. Those represent potentially gettable voters for Biden if they are informed about the border deal and the fact that Trump tanked the solution for his own political benefit.
Immigration is a vulnerable issue for Biden and Democrats, partly because of the influx of migrants and partly because voters are predisposed to trusting Republicans more on the matter.
Biden's border trip on Thursday marks the beginning of an orchestrated effort by Team Biden to turn the issue into a liability for Republicans. And if they are looking for guidance on how to do it, Democratic Rep.-elect Tom Suozzi of New York provided every Democrat with a roadmap to owning the immigration issue when he took it head on in a special election two weeks ago, and bested his GOP rival by 8 percentage points, overperforming his polls in the race.
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In fact, when congressional Republicans were preparing to torpedo their own deal earlier this month at Donald Trump's direction, Biden promised they would live to regret it. “If the bill fails, I want to be absolutely clear about something: The American people are going to know why it fails," Biden warned.
On Thursday, Biden will kickstart that public education, and new polling suggests his efforts are both needed and could pay off handsomely with voters.
According to survey results published by the progressive consortium Navigator Research on Thursday, less than a quarter of voters (23%) reported hearing "a lot" about the recent border-deal talks, which Trump scuttled so he could run on the immigration issue. Another 32% said they heard "some" about the negotiations, with 45% saying they had heard only “a little” or “nothing.”
The survey also highlighted that the more voters who are informed of that potential legislation, the better it stands to play politically for the president and Democrats.
Asked how they feel about a measure that "would have increased funding for border security and made it harder for migrants to claim asylum," 66% of voters said they would support such a law, including 64% of independents and at least 7 in 10 Republicans.
Navigator also tested how support changes once people are told that Biden agreed to sign the bill but it failed after "Trump told Republicans to vote against it."
Unsurprisingly, approval of the deal takes a hit among GOP voters, particularly “very conservative” Republicans. Their net support fell by 65 percentage points once they were informed of Biden’s and Trump’s stances on the bill, with just 29% supporting it.
But among "not very conservative" Republicans, the border deal still garners a 41% plurality of support, with just 24% in opposition. Similarly, a 49% plurality of independents support the deal, with just 19% in opposition. Those represent potentially gettable voters for Biden if they are informed about the border deal and the fact that Trump tanked the solution for his own political benefit.
Immigration is a vulnerable issue for Biden and Democrats, partly because of the influx of migrants and partly because voters are predisposed to trusting Republicans more on the matter.
Biden's border trip on Thursday marks the beginning of an orchestrated effort by Team Biden to turn the issue into a liability for Republicans. And if they are looking for guidance on how to do it, Democratic Rep.-elect Tom Suozzi of New York provided every Democrat with a roadmap to owning the immigration issue when he took it head on in a special election two weeks ago, and bested his GOP rival by 8 percentage points, overperforming his polls in the race.
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