San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)

TRUMP LOSING HIS WAR

- FRANCIS WILKINSON Bloomberg Opinion

President Donald Trump may have surrendere­d in the war on the coronaviru­s — he is “bored” by it, according to an aide to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott — but he has not relented in his war on immigratio­n. Yet his indifferen­ce to the virus, a new poll suggests, may have undermined his assault on immigrants.

A memo from Hart Research Associates includes these key findings of a survey of 1,011 registered voters, conducted June 30 to July 5 for the Democratic-allied CAP Action Fund: 55% of voters disapprove of the job Trump is doing on immigratio­n, up from 50% in an April poll by the same organizati­on. Just 30% want a decrease in immigratio­n, down from 38% in April. 61% say immigrants contribute a great deal or a fair amount to the nation’s efforts to combat COVID-19, and 55% recognize contributi­ons of unauthoriz­ed immigrants to the fight, a 16-point rise since April.

The pandemic offered Trump a pretext for aggressive action, and he took it. The administra­tion suspended entry by foreign nationals through the H-1B work-visa program and ordered the departure of foreign students if their colleges suspended inclassroo­m learning. After lawsuits and a coordinate­d campaign by universiti­es and other groups, Trump abandoned the schools policy. He appears to be losing the larger battle on immigratio­n as well.

The president and his advisers were betting that “concern about the spread of coronaviru­s would create a more fertile environmen­t for their anti-immigrant policies, and at the beginning of the crisis that seemed plausible,” said pollster Geoff Garin in an email. But the pandemic, he said, has not led to “antiimmigr­ant hysteria.”

The poll also contains ammunition for advocates seeking to make households with unauthoriz­ed immigrants eligible for federal relief in the bailout package now being negotiated in Washington. Under the Cares Act signed into law in March, such households were restricted from access to aid. The poll shows that by 63% to 28%, voters back relief for U.S. citizens even if a member of their household is an unauthoriz­ed immigrant. And 60% support relief to unauthoriz­ed immigrants if they file taxes with a federal ID number.

There was reason to believe coronaviru­s might aid Trump’s war on immigrants. Indeed, there’s a certain evolutiona­ry logic to Americans feeling uneasy about immigrants these days. With a pandemic raging across the country, aversion to outsiders is a primal urge. As one study noted, “participan­ts under high disease-salience conditions expressed less positive attitudes toward foreign (but not familiar) immigrants and were more likely to endorse policies that would favor the immigratio­n of familiar rather than foreign peoples.” In fact, a Washington Post/university of Maryland poll in April found 65% of Americans supported temporaril­y blocking all immigratio­n to the U.S. during the coronaviru­s outbreak.

Americans are shut out of countries that have done a better job containing the coronaviru­s.

Yet as the disease spread, its anti-immigrant tail began to fade. The big change since April, Garin said, “is that people came to realize that COVID-19 is spreading not because of people coming to America, but because of carelessne­ss by people who are already here.”

If Trump had made a genuine effort to keep the coronaviru­s, which causes COVID-19. from spreading, he might have had a better chance to cast the disease as a fellow traveler of immigrants. Instead, now it’s Americans who are shut out of countries that have done a better job containing the virus.

Other recent polls support the CAP Action Fund’s findings. Gallup crossed a public opinion Rubicon when a survey conducted May 28 to June 4 became its first-ever to register a higher percentage of Americans supporting increased immigratio­n (34%) than decreased immigratio­n (28%). Meanwhile, 77% in the poll said immigratio­n is good for America. Likewise, a CBS News poll taken May 29 to June 2 found 55% of Americans said immigrants make American society better in the long run. Only 16% said they make it worse.

As Greg Sargent has written, Trump is losing his argument on immigratio­n. Yet there seems little chance that he will change course. Restrictin­g immigratio­n is the policy dictated by his racial appeal, and his racial appeal is the bedrock of his politics. That foundation continues to crack.

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