Donald Trump is paying a "very steep price" after "completely misreading" voters on a key issue, according to a GOP strategist.
Mike Madrid, who served as the Golden State's GOP political director before co-founding the group of current and former anti-Trump Republicans known as the Lincoln Project, has previously commented on Trump's political tactics.
This weekend, however, Madrid published a piece called, "Backlash to Anti-Immigration Fever Has Arrived," in which he argues, "The predictable consequences of political overreach are now playing out exactly as forecasted."
"Back in January, I warned that on the immigration debate, there would be no winner, but there would be a loser. And the loser would inevitably be whichever side overreached first. Yesterday’s Gallup polling data confirms this prediction with crystalline clarity: Donald Trump and the Republicans have overreached, and they’re paying a very steep price," he wrote. "The numbers are damning for the administration. The percentage of Americans wanting less immigration has dropped by nearly half this year to 30%, with 79% now saying immigration benefits the U.S."
He continues, calling the numbers "jaw-dropping."
"I have never seen a cut in half in thirty days. Jaw-dropping. About 8 in 10 Americans now say immigration is 'a good thing' for the country today, an increase from 64% a year ago and a high point in the nearly 25-year trend," he wrote. "But as I said months ago, this was entirely predictable."
According to Madrid, "The polling data confirms what should have been obvious to any seasoned political observer: Americans reached a nuanced position on immigration that the Trump administration completely misread."
"They wanted border security, and got it. But they never signed up for the militarization of American communities and the targeting of working families. There was never a mandate for federal government overreach, the destruction of constitutional rights, and the usurpation of due process. This wasn’t some unpredictable political earthquake. It was the entirely predictable result of a party that confused electoral victory with a mandate for extremism. The Trump administration’s overreach on immigration enforcement has generated exactly the opposition that clear-eyed observers predicted it would," he added. "Yet the data reveals an even more dangerous political dynamic for Republicans. While 31% of Republicans still don’t believe ICE’s actions are sufficient and want more aggressive enforcement, the 49% who view current actions as appropriate represent a critical vulnerability. This split suggests that the Trump administration’s continued reliance on its MAGA base, which demands 31%, could drive his support levels dangerously lower among both mainstream Republicans and Hispanic voters."
He continued:
"Both constituencies are critical not just to Trump’s coalition but to Republican survival in the upcoming midterms. Hispanic voters, with Trump’s dismal 21% approval rating on immigration, represent a growing electoral force that Republicans can ill afford to alienate further. Meanwhile, nearly half of Republicans who think current enforcement levels are appropriate signal potential defection if the administration continues catering to its most extreme supporters."