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Voters Weigh In Loud and Clear on Trump's Use of Troops To Stop Caravan

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If you’ve been watching the media’s coverage of the migrant caravans, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the average American would be wildly against sending troops to the border to stop these aspiring illegal immigrants from creating some sort of ruckus.

Oh, except you’re not really supposed to call them illegal immigrants.

“Migrants,” really. Or “refugees,” fleeing from a life of deprivation in Honduras — a deprivation so great they can’t even seek asylum in neighboring countries like Mexico or Guatemala, they have to come here.

The point is that nobody with a heart would encourage using American troops to enforce border laws and if you’re for something like that, you’re obviously heartless.

That was the accepted party line in the mainstream media. And then someone went and did a poll and screwed it all up.

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According to a survey released by Zogby on Friday, a clear 57 percent of likely voters think that sending troops to the border to stop the caravan is a good idea.

That would be enough of a surprise by itself, but here’s another kicker: Over half of Hispanics also agree with the plan.

President Trump has thus far proposed up to 15,000 troops to secure the southern border. The first wave is arriving to reinforce the international bridge in Hidalgo, Texas, according to NBC News.

“We’ll go up to anywhere between 10,000 and 15,000 military personnel on top of border patrol, ICE, and everybody else at the border. Nobody’s coming in,” the president told reporters.

Did these poll results come as a surprise to you?

So, what do Americans think of this?

“A new Zogby Analytics nationwide survey of 866 likely voters, with a margin of error of +/-3.3%, conducted 10/30/18-10/31/18, shows a majority (57%) of Americans support the military’s decision to send thousands of troops to the border to prevent a migrant caravan, numbered in the thousands, from entering the U.S. illegally. More than two in five disagree with the military deployment to the border,” Zogby reported.

“Among political parties, Democrats were most likely to disagree (69%), but 31% of Democrats did agree with sending troops to the U.S. – Mexico border,” the survey noted.

“Republicans overwhelmingly support (91%) sending the military to the border. Independents were also in support of sending the military (53%), while 47% disagreed. Men were much more supportive–43% strongly agreed, and 66% agreed overall (strongly and somewhat agree combined). Women were split 50/50 on the deployment of troops.”

But here was the kicker, at least for people hoping identity politics would carry the day.

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“Ethnicity was another area where there was more agreement than expected. A majority of African-Americans disagree (59%) compared to 41% who agree,” Zogby noted.

“Interestingly, 51% of Hispanic respondents agree with the deployment of troops to the border to halt the migrant caravan; slightly less than half (49%) disagree. Also, 30% of Hispanics strongly agree compared to 28% who strongly disagree.

“It must also be noted that the sample of Hispanic respondents carries a larger margin of error (+/-10%), but nonetheless, the numbers do represent a significant finding.”

The poll also found that support was fairly even across geographic regions:

“Majorities of voters in the east, south, and central regions (56-62% agree/38-44% disagree) supported the deployment of troops. The only region where there was a majority who disagreed was in the west (51% disagree/49% agree).”

The poll did note that younger voters tended to disagree with the decision to send troops while older voters agreed with it. In that regard, however, I’m reminded of that Winston Churchill quote about being young and conservative or old and liberal.

Either way, the Zogby survey is proof yet again that the media narrative on what America thinks regarding illegal immigration simply doesn’t match up with the facts.

Americans want our border laws enforced; that’s why the laws are there in the first place. We’ve seen this over and over again with issues like the border wall and amnesty. When will the media finally admit that their take on the issue doesn’t line up with reality?

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C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014.
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014. Aside from politics, he enjoys spending time with his wife, literature (especially British comic novels and modern Japanese lit), indie rock, coffee, Formula One and football (of both American and world varieties).
Birthplace
Morristown, New Jersey
Education
Catholic University of America
Languages Spoken
English, Spanish
Topics of Expertise
American Politics, World Politics, Culture




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