In an astonishing reversal, according to a new Pew Poll, Americans are far less willing to build a wall on America’s southern border then they were six months ago, despite the number of terrorist attacks that have arisen in that time period.
There seems to be one reason for the paradoxical change: because building a wall was the linchpin of Donald Trump’s appeal, and as voters are increasingly talking a dislike to him, they are turning away from Trump and the wall.
In September, the percentage of respondents supporting the building of a wall was 46%; it has dropped to 38%. The percentage of respondents opposed to the wall was 48% in September; it has now risen to 58%.
Making the matter more interesting is the fact that support for letting illegal immigrants stay in the U.S. has stayed rock-steady, only vacillating from 73% to 75% over the last three years.
Thus the wall, which many people associate with Trump, seems to be slipping in popularity as his unpopularity numbers continue to soar. Pew reported only 19% of respondents believed that Ted Cruz would make a terrible president, as opposed to 30% for Hillary Clinton and a whopping 44% thinking Trump would be terrible. A March Washington Post/ABC News poll found 67% of overall voters had an unfavorable opinion of Trump. At least 65% of independents and white women disapprove of Trump, while 85% of Hispanics also dislike him. Almost 80% of voters ages 18-24 dislike the bombastic candidate. A bare majority of white men, 53%, approve of Trump; 47% disapprove. 53% of conservatives also dislike Trump.
