Under fire since Election Day for lacking a message that can stall President Donald Trump’s agenda, Democratic leaders have apparently blundered anew by seizing on the case of deported alleged MS-13 member Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
While Washington Democrats have agreed that the best way to bruise the president is to assail his immigration policies as too harsh and sloppily implemented, the party’s base is standing with Trump and his mass deportations of criminal illegal immigrants.
The defiance of liberal leaders is remarkably high among Democrats, including black people, Hispanics, liberals, and younger citizens.
Overall, 79% of likely voters told Rasmussen Reports that they agree with deporting “illegal immigrants who commit crimes in America.” Just 5% said deporting isn’t “at all important.”
The view of Democratic base voters on border policies shared with Secrets is the real story for why the party is in the dumps as it tries to whip up opposition to Trump’s deportations.
Among Democratic voters, 69% believe it is important to deport criminal illegal immigrants. With Hispanics, it is 77%, and for black voters, 71%. Add in liberals, at 62%, and younger voters at 70%, and it’s pretty clear that the pro-immigration message embraced by Democratic leaders parading to Abrego Garcia’s jail in El Salvador isn’t working.
Notably, the attacks on Trump by Democrats and liberal protesters haven’t hurt the president’s approval ratings much.
📊 Trump approval daily tracking
🟢 Approve: 52% (+6)
🔴 Disapprove: 46%
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Trump’s approval trendsApril 9: 47-52 (-5)
April 15: 50-49 (+1)
April 20: 52-46 (+6)
——@Rasmussen_Poll | 1,500 LV | 4/16-20 pic.twitter.com/Bmima13IJt— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) April 21, 2025
In fact, the Democratic base is in more agreement with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who told Trump in the Oval Office last week that a key to solving crime is locking up criminals.
During that meeting Bukele said that he was willing to accept even more illegal immigrants from the U.S., and told the president, “You cannot just, you know, free the criminals and think crime is going to go down magically, you have to imprison them so you can liberate 350 million Americans that are asking for the end of crime and the end of terrorism, and it can be done.”
Rasmussen asked likely voters if they agreed or disagreed with Bukele’s analysis, and 76% said they agreed. Even Hispanic voters agreed, at 67%, black voters at 76%, and Democratic voters at 51%.
TRUMP SHOWS ‘DURABILITY’ THAT WAS MISSING IN FIRST TERM
“Among voters who consider it ‘very important’ to deport illegal immigrants who commit crimes, 66% ‘strongly agree’ with Bukele’s quote about the need to ‘liberate’ Americans from crime,” Rasmussen said in its analysis
The polling outfit added, “Majorities of every political category — 90% of Republicans, 69% of Democrats and 76% of voters not affiliated with either major party — believe it is at least somewhat important that illegal immigrants who commit crimes in America should be deported.”
