Five years after Trump rallied Republican primary voters using his chants "Build that wall!" the election of a Democratic President coupled with recent increases in Latin American migrants has given Republicans a new opportunity to secure border security. It is gaining popularity in Republican campaigns across America, and it has made the southern border a destination for candidates looking to bolster their conservative credentials at home.John Thomas, a Republican strategist, stated that it is off the Richter scale for importance to the Republican electorate. Thomas works on House campaigns across America. It crosses all jurisdictions. It goes from Orange County's suburbs to Nevada. It will even be part of a Fort Worth judicial race.Republicans should be optimistic about immigration's potential as a voting issue, and potential weakness for the Democratic Party. According to internal Republican polling, the Harvard CAPS Harris poll found that immigration was ranked second by voters as a priority issue, just behind jobs and the economy. According to the poll, Biden's approval rating for immigration is still high at 52 percent. This is a lower endorsement than any other subject, including the economy, crime and response to coronavirus.Morning Consult poll last month indicated that Democrats are on even more unstable ground. Disapproval of Biden's handling of immigration surpassed approval by 48 percent to 42 percent.At a rally held at the Lorain County Fairgrounds, Ohio, Donald Trump was speaking. Tony Dejak/AP PhotoWhit Ayres (a long-time Republican pollster) called immigration one the top three vulnerabilities of the Obama administration. Shawn Steel, a member of the Republican National Committee from California, predicted that crime and immigration would be the two main drivers for Republicans' midterm campaigns.Steel stated that Democrats could not have asked for a worse time. It's not the volume but the lack of control. You are seeing a border that was not even an issue in 2020 rise to the top.The issue is more relevant than Texas, where Trump was accompanied by Abbott Wednesday. Trump accused Democrats of being incompetent or favoring open borders.The RNC had already condemned Vice President Kamala Harris's visit to El Paso, last week, with mobile billboards critiquing the Biden-Harris Border Crisis. A newspaper ad in McAllen in McAllen also suggested that Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas), is complicit in Trumps visit. Republicans feel particularly vulnerable on this issue.However, GOP spending patterns show that immigration resonates beyond Texas and other border states. Ex-Rep. Steve Stivers in Ohio aired digital ads this month urging Jeff LaRe to succeed him. The ads featured video of the construction of the border wall and a promise that LaRe would work hard to strengthen our borders.Representative Steve Stivers (R.Ohio), Chair, National Republican Congressional Committee speaks at a White Sulphur Springs news briefing, West Virginia. Alex Wong/Getty ImagesDonald Trump was elected for a reason, according to Carl Fogliani (a Republican strategist who is based in Pittsburgh). It is the most important issue. It is obvious.Arizona Republican Jim Lamon, who is a businessman running in the 2022 campaign against Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, has aired TV ads this Month featuring footage of immigrant crossing border barriers. This was a throwback at the controversial, grainy footage that showed immigrants streaming across the U.S. - Mexico border by the then-California Governor. Pete Wilson used this footage in 1994's re-election campaign.A similar digital campaign from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which supports reducing overall immigration is even more explicit. It uses the same opening line that Wilson used in his famous ad: They keep on coming. Democrats are accused of encouraging illegal immigration. Republicans believe that the issue works in their favor in all competitive races, not just near the border. They also think it is a matter of law and order.Republicans could go too far. Wilson's 1994 message on immigration, including his support for Prop. The initiative to limit services to undocumented immigrants, known as Prop. 187, was widely criticized for contributing to the Republican Party's decline among Latino voters in 1990s and 2000s. In 2018, Republicans tried unsuccessfully to convince Trump that he should focus more on the economy and less on the border during the party's midterm shellacking. Two years later, Trump's economic message to the working class was what helped him make marginal gains among Latino voters.Trump had created a path to incremental gains for Hispanic voters through his non-racially aggressive leadership and economic populism. Now, the Republican Party is backtracking on that, according to Mike Madrid, a Republican strategist who was also a cofounder of the anti Trump Lincoln Project before he resigned in December.He said that the party's current push for immigration could lead to them losing any incremental gains with Latino voters they have made. This will make it difficult for them to keep the House. Instead of discussing economic populist messages (which Trump did with marginal success in 2020), they're opting for a 2018 model rather than a 2020 model. It's not logical.Trump's immigration policies have been criticized by the Biden administration as inefficient and inhumane. Harris stated at the border last Wednesday that the administration was focused on the root causes of migration. He also said during a visit to Guatemala this month that migrants don't come to the border directly. Many Republicans also acknowledge that Trump's harsh rhetoric regarding rapists crossing the border and criminals was not helpful in the midterm elections.Trump's presence at the border this week may not be in the best interests of the party. However, Republican strategists agree that immigration will be a major issue.Thomas stated that Trump's rhetoric cost Republicans a lot in 2018. He vilified immigrants and presented the issue in a way that was threatening to offend voters.Thomas stated that Trump is not in office and that there are no top officials who use inflamatory language to turn off voters who want border enforcement, but don't want the dehumanization of human beings.
