CNN data reporter Harry Enten marveled at recent polling on immigration giving former President Trump a huge lead over President Biden on handling of the border crisis.
"When you’re dealing with something that’s now one of the nation’s top problems according to the American public, and an issue that’s moving very much towards the former president, you can definitely see why the current president, Joe Biden, felt like he needed to act," Enten reported on CNN News Central on Tuesday after Biden signed an Executive Order to crack down on crossings at the southern border.
"Because at this particular point, the issue of border security and immigration is truly hurting Joe Biden‘s re-election chances," the reporter remarked.
Enten analyzed several polls which highlighted how voters view immigration as a far more important concern than they did four years ago, and trust Trump over Biden to handle it.
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Voters gave Trump a 27-point advantage over Biden on handling border security, according May 2024 polling from Marquette University Law School and CNBC.
That's a dramatic jump from June 2020, when Enten said polling put Biden one point ahead of Trump on the immigration issue.
The border has become "massively important" to voters, he continued. Voters in a May 2024 Gallup poll ranked immigration as the No. 2 issue facing America. However, voters in Gallup's May 2020 poll ranked immigration as the 15th most important issue, Enten said.
He noted that Trump also has a 3-point lead over Biden with immigrant voters, according to an average of the two most recent CNN polls. He suggested Democratic messaging attacking Republicans didn't seem to be effective with this group.
"I think there are a lot of Democrats who had been hoping that the rhetoric that — what they see as — harsh rhetoric against immigrant communities might cause a backlash, might cause immigrant voters perhaps to shift over towards the Democratic column. That has not been happening. In fact, this is one of the wildest sort of poll numbers that I‘ve seen," he bluntly remarked.
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According to the two CNN polls Enten cited, 47% of immigrant voters prefer Trump, whereas 44% support Biden for president.
"Look at this, you might expect this to be a Democratic-leaning group. Nuh uh," he remarked.
"It just sort of shows you how the issue of immigration has moved wildly against the current president, very much in the direction of the former president, no matter which way you look at it," he continued.
Enten called the border a "horrible issue for Biden" when sharing a clip of the segment on X.
"Four years ago, immigration was not even in the top 10 for important issues per Americans. Today, it's 2nd. And what was a slight Biden advantage in 2020 on immigration/border security has turned into a nearly 30 lead for Trump on the issue today. Horrible issue for Biden," he wrote.
Biden signed an Executive Order on Tuesday temporarily barring entry at the southern border for migrants seeking asylum when there is an average of 2,500 crossings a day over a 7-day period.
The limit will stay in effect until 14 days after there has been a 7-day average of less than 1,500 encounters along the border. Officials said it would make it easier for immigration officers to quickly remove individuals who do not have a legal basis to remain in the U.S.
The Biden campaign pointed to the executive action when reached for comment by Fox News Digital.
"The American people demand solutions to fix our broken immigration system, but at every step of the way, Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans have made clear they only want chaos and partisan politics as usual. Every American should know that Trump proudly killed the strongest bipartisan border bill in a generation – siding with fentanyl traffickers over the Border Patrol and our security," Biden-Harris 2024 Spokesperson Kevin Munoz said in a statement announcing the Executive Order.
"President Biden knows being president is not about theater – it’s about taking action on the issues our communities care most about. Despite Trump and his loyalists’ inaction, President Biden is taking action today," he said.
