New Poll: If Trump Makes the Election About the Actual Issues, Democrats Cannot Win

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The average swing voters in the suburbs don’t want to ban straws, phase out appliances that work well, and regulate cheeseburgers, while embracing Hamas, MS-13, mass migration, and higher taxes. They don’t want their communities fundamentally transformed by illegal immigration and mass migration, nor do they want to shoulder the cost. That is the simple upshot of a very comprehensive Harvard/Harris poll of 2,531 registered voters nationwide taken just last week.

Clearly, because of his distractions and gratuitous comments, President Trump is not very popular on a personal level with voters. But when you actually drill down into the issues Democrats are fighting for, voters side with conservatives. The problem is that Republicans refuse to harness sustained and aggressive policy debates over these issues that force Democrats to take tough votes and display their radicalism before the American people. This allows Democrats to keep the focus on Trump’s personality rather than their radicalism. It doesn’t have to be this way. Indeed, if Trump stays focused on ending illegal immigration, locking up criminals, de-regulating costly restrictions on important household products, and creating jobs, he will win a second term and win back the suburban voters, according to the Harvard/Harris poll.

Here are some key takeaways:

Immigration ranked as the top issue for voters, well ahead of other issues – with 40 percent of all respondents saying it’s the top issue, including 41 percent of suburban voters. Surprisingly, that is equal with the percentage of rural voters who ranked it as the top issue, and rural voters are usually perceived as the most anti-illegal immigration.

Free stuff and weak security vs. free opportunity and national security is a no-brainer: The poll asked a very straightforward question summing up the key differences between the competing visions without any other leading questions: “Which candidate are you more likely to vote for – A presidential candidate who stands for the green new deal on climate change, Medicare for all, free college tuition, opening our borders to many more immigrants and raising taxes to pay for these programs or a presidential candidate who stands for lower taxes and reduced government regulations, strengthening our military, strengthening our border to reduce illegal immigrants, standing up more to China and Iran and seeking better trade deals for the US.”

The answer? 60 percent support the latter – what is perceived as the conservative vision – and 40 percent support the former. 58 percent of moderates and 63 percent of suburban voters supported the latter as well. Which tells you that if the election is framed in this way – and Republicans actually pick fights that accentuate this division – the outcome of the election will be favorable to Trump.

The open border is toxic: Next, the pollster asked the most and least likely position stance that would make you vote for a candidate. The absolute least likely was “opening up our borders to many more immigrants,” with just 36 percent supporting this proposition, including just 32 percent of suburban voters. Tied for the least popular issue was “Raising taxes to pay for more programs.” Conversely, 70 percent of voters said they’d be more likely to support a candidate who supports “strengthening our border to reduce illegal immigration,” including 71 percent of moderate and suburban voters and even 58 percent of Hispanics.

Read the rest of the story HERE.

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