Trump Is Not Winning in Los Angeles

New York Times

21 hours ago

I wrote this week that Donald Trump's response to the Los Angeles protests demonstrates his weakness, not his strength. When I argued this point, there was some polling, but not a whole lot. Now, at the end of the week, we have a lot more data, and — White House spin notwithstanding — the politics of this action looks terrible for the president.
Writing for his Strength in Numbers newsletter, G. Elliott Morris put together a useful chart of this week's polling as it relates to the L.A. protests, Trump and immigration. When asked if they approved of the way the president is handling immigration, majorities of Americans in polls from The Associated Press, Quinnipiac University and The Washington Post said no. Trump received a positive rating of 49 percent approval in a survey conducted by YouGov for The Economist. His average net approval on immigration is around -7 points.
On the question of deportations, both YouGov and Quinnipiac find negative ratings for the president, for an average net approval of roughly -14 points. More Americans disapprove than approve of Trump's decision to send troops to Los Angeles, for an average net approval of nearly -8 points, and a solid majority of Americans, 56 percent according to YouGov, say that state and local officials should take the lead on responding to protests in Los Angeles, as opposed to the 25 percent who say it should be a federal responsibility.
As for the protests themselves, more Americans disapprove than approve, for an average net approval rating of -5 points.
What these numbers tell me is that with a more measured approach, Trump might have been able to win this confrontation and bring Americans around to his position. As it stands, a draconian use of force against largely peaceful protesters — in service of a brutal campaign of deportations — has turned the public against him, even as it dislikes the protests themselves. And I expect that the manhandling and handcuffing of Senator Alex Padilla of California during a news conference held by Kristi Noem, secretary of homeland security — a stunning abuse of power — will worsen the president's position with most Americans.
Today, in cities and towns across the country, some number of Americans — maybe even you — will be protesting against the administration and in opposition to the White House's monarchical pretensions. As I am writing this, there is no way to know the scale of these demonstrations. But something tells me that the events of this week have activated many Americans in a way that will prove detrimental to the president's authoritarian goals.
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