Las Vegas Review-Journal

Taking a radical left turn

Dem socialist wing turns off many voters

- Paul Ware Las Vegas Daryl Morris Las Vegas

If the Democrats think that appeasing the radical progressiv­es in their midst by pushing the party to the far left is a winning strategy, they might want to think again. As Hot Air reports, a new poll published by The Associated PRESS–NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that the far left’s “Abolish ICE” campaign will likely do the party more harm than good come election time.

The push to abolish U.S. Immigratio­n and Customs Enforcemen­t ramped up in June after the Trump administra­tion, in an attempt to reduce illegal immigratio­n, establishe­d a “zero-tolerance” policy that separated immigrant children from their parents. While a federal judge has since ordered families to be reunited, the process has been challengin­g due to logistical issues — some parents had already been deported — and other problems. As a result, many children remain separated from their parents.

The AP poll indicates the partisan divide on the situation is considerab­le.

More than 75 percent of Republican­s have largely favorable views of Mr. Trump’s handling of the situation, while more than 90 percent of Democrats — and nearly twothirds of independen­t voters — disapprove. It’s not surprising, then, that 85 percent of Democrats think the White House should be doing more to reunite the children with their parents, while only 22 percent of Republican­s agree.

Despite the Democrats’ disapprova­l of Mr. Trump’s handling of immigratio­n, however, most stop short of wanting to see ICE dismantled. While 57 percent of Democrats view the agency in a negative light, only a quarter support eliminatin­g the agency entirely.

As Hot Air points out, this chasm could spell trouble for Democrat candidates in future elections.

While her anti-ice stance helped Alexandria Ocasio-cortez defeat a 10-term party leader for a safe Democratic New York congressio­nal seat, other candidates haven’t been so lucky. Ms. Ocasio-cortez supported Brent Welder, who also favors ending ICE, but he lost a primary in Kansas.

Democratic presidenti­al contender Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York supports getting rid of ICE, while Sen. Kamala Harris of California says the agency needs a rethinking instead of a full-on abolition. As the AP also notes, no Democrats running in competitiv­e Senate races in November have openly advocated abolishing ICE.

And if they’re smart, they won’t.

Those within the Democrat Party with socialist tendencies might be loud and dedicated to their causes, but by no means do they have much support outside the regions dominated by the progressiv­e coastal elites. Democrats are currently the minority party, and history indicates they are primed for success in the coming off-year election. But they risk muting their gains if they kowtow to the collectivi­st radicals in their midst.

The views expressed above are those of the Las Vegas Review-journal. All other opinions expressed on the Opinion and Commentary pages are those of the individual artist or author indicated.

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Fax 702-383-4676 the points of origin in states with up-and-running nuclear energy programs; such as Illinois, for instance. Oh, that’s right, Rep. John Shimkus doesn’t want a nuke dump in Illinois because he and his family live there.

You know, this nuclear energy dependency our civilizati­on created for itself has turned into a big pile of radioactiv­e crap. acres and acres and acres of open land. I’m just not sure what they were thinking.

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