The TV networks take public opinion polls, and sometimes they’re quite upset at what they find. On Sunday’s Face the Nation on CBS, host Margaret Brennan was flummoxed at how a strong majority of Americans support mass deportations. Brennan thinks that’s wildly impractical. She doesn’t seem to think it’s wildly impractical to allow all of these people untrammeled entry into America.
CBS News polling guy Anthony Salvanto explained: “We tested that in a general way in principle. Would you support a new government program that would deport all people living in the U.S. illegally? And that finds majority favor. That finds six in 10. It’s strongest among folks who are MAGA. It’s strongest among Trump supporters, but also from some Democrats as well.”
CBS’s @MargBrennan flummoxed by poll showing 62% support deporting all undocumented immigrants. Biden has deported “more people in the past year than any year since 2010” and “it doesn’t seem practical…to round up children…So what exactly do people think they’re supporting?” pic.twitter.com/UqHHAC1hkA
— Brent Baker 🇺🇦 🇮🇱 (@BrentHBaker) June 9, 2024
MARGARET BRENNAN: So, unpack that a bit, because this 62 percent of Americans favor deporting all undocumented immigrants.
So, Homeland Security says that President Biden has already deported or repatriated more people in the past year than any year since 2010. And then, depending on the details of what’s talked about on the campaign trail, some of what Mr. Trump talks about could be illegal. It doesn’t seem practical, in some sense, to round up children.
And then we know that the courts have questioned whether local authorities would have the ability to do it, and federal authorities don’t have the resources. So what exactly do people think they’re supporting?
Translation: What on earth are you bumpkins thinking? Why aren’t you deferring to Experts in Washington? The CBS pollster said this was about a direction and not the small details:
SALVANTO: Well, when you measure public sentiment on this or really just about any policy, you’re getting a sense of direction. You’re getting broad brushstrokes.
But those kinds of details, well, that’s often up to the legislatures and the courts later on. We tested even the idea of, should local law enforcement be involved in this? And a lot of folks do say yes. Again, the details of that, the specifics, you’re not going to pick that up in an aggregate public opinion.
BRENNAN: They weren’t tracking the Supreme Court decisions.
SALVANTO: Undoubtedly not.
But, look, it does tell you, though, for the viewer watching this campaign, that what we’re seeing here connects to whether it’s the courts, the – what some people say is the politicization of the courts, these ideas of mass deportations, et cetera, we are in a different era, in which a lot of folks say the system as a whole is not working.
And all of these, if you connect the dots through them, are part of that reaction against it, which explains some of that general sentiment for some of these policies.
BRENNAN: It’s really just kind of a: “Do something.”
SALVANTO: Do something.
President Biden and his allies in the leftist media haven’t wanted to “do something” to stop untrammeled illegal immigration, and they don’t appreciate how public opinion has turned on their policy.