Trump risking GOP majorities with crackdown: 'Take out their anger on Republicans'
U.S. President Donald Trump walks after arriving on the South Lawn aboard Marine One, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., January 11, 2026. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon

President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown is costing him support from a key voter demographic – and they may take out their anger against Republicans this fall.

The 79-year-old president is sparking backlash among Latino voters, who backed him at record-high levels for a GOP candidate in 2024, and CNN's Harry Enten said that could cost Republicans their congressional majorities.

"There has been a massive backlash against the president of the United States among Latino voters," Enten told "CNN News Central." "Let's just take a look at Trump's net approval rating among Latinos. You know, you go back a year ago, right at the beginning of his first term, wasn't too bad, right? About five points underwater. A lot of Republicans would really like that. But take a look where we are today, over a 20-point decline now down to minus-28 points. Donald Trump's net approval rating among Latinos, a much larger drop we've seen among Latinos than we have seen among the American electorate overall."

Trump's mass deportation program is driving that dissatisfaction, Enten said.

"You go back a year ago, according to the CBS News/YouGov poll, he was right at even right, as many people approved as disapproved," he said. "Again, that's really good numbers for Republicans among Latinos, but look at where we are now, 34 points underwater. There has been an over 30-point shift away, away from Donald Trump among Latinos on his deportation program. What we have seen among Latinos is a drop overall, much of which is being driven by how they are viewing his deportation program."

Enten said those trends point to big losses for Republican candidates in November's elections.

"So you see these numbers among Trump, but they don't really matter if, of course, we don't actually see Latinos taking out their anger on Republicans in Congress," he said. "So what are we seeing here? Choice for election among Latinos, back in November of 2024, Kamala Harris won Latinos, but just by four points. It was one of the best, if not the best, performance for Republican presidential candidate on record, Donald Trump. But look at where we are now in the 2026 race for Congress, Democrats have widened, expanding that lead. They're now up by 19 points, a 15-point switcheroo from the margin that we saw in the 2024 presidential election."

"Latinos are very angry with Donald Trump," Enten added, "and it looks like in this midterm election, they're going to take out that anger on Republicans at the ballot box."


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