CNN senior data analyst Harry Enten reports that legal immigrants and foreign-born are the most hawkish voters on immigration enforcement. Enten said, “Immigrant citizens have become increasingly unfavorable in their views of those immigrants who are here illegally.” “When we’re talking about this, at least from a political angle, this is why Donald Trump feels so comfortable, because, in fact, amongst the group that you would think that would be most opposed to this, in fact, they become increasingly favorable, not just towards — just towards Donald Trump, but towards the Republican point of view on immigration and becoming distant from those immigrants who are here illegally,” Enten said on Tuesday.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, we are standing by to see what a new day brings in Los Angeles. With the city bracing for a fifth straight day potentially of protests to be breaking out in downtown Los Angeles against the administration’s ramped up ICE. raids we’ve seen playing out. Also, we’ve seen similar protests breaking out in cities across the country over the administration’s immigration crackdown. So, where is the country’s voters on this issue? CNN’s Harry Enten took a look at the numbers around, interestingly enough, how immigrant voters feel about immigration and the immigration crackdown. Where do you want to start? HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes, let — let’s just sort of start off on the fact that immigrant citizens, immigrant voters, foreign-born voters, have gone tremendously to the right on this issue in 2024 and 2025 versus where they were in 2020. Closest to or trust more on immigration. You go back to 2020. Democrats, get this, held a 32-point lead on this issue. Immigrant voters were in the Democratic camp. Jump forward to 2024, 2025. Look at that shift. A 40-point shift to the right among immigrant voters. Republicans now lead on this issue by eight points over Democrats, more so than any other group that I could find. The group of voters who became more hawkish on immigration were, in fact, immigrants themselves, immigrants who are registered to vote in this country. BOLDUAN: So, that’s on that issue. How about how they feel about kind of traditionally, historically about Donald Trump? ENTEN: Yes. So, you know, you see this shift and you go, what is going on underneath the hood? Well, take a look. Donald Trump, you remember when he first ran back in 2016, immigrant voters were one of his weakest spots. But look at this, Trump’s vote share in presidential elections among immigrant citizens, those who are registered to vote, look at this, 2016, he got 36 percent of the vote. You go to 2020, 39 percent of the vote. Look at this, in 2024, all the way up to 47 percent of the vote. Some polls I looked at had him barely losing that vote. Some polls I looked at had him barely winning that vote. Again, there is no bloc of voters that shifted more to the right from 2020 to 2024 than immigrant voters. And Donald Trump, at least in some surveys, actually won that vote. On average, it’s about equal. So, there may be all this stuff, right, about undocumented immigrants and Trump being harsh on them, but immigrant voters themselves have increasingly liked Donald Trump and have increasingly moved to the right on immigration and into the Republican camp. BOLDUAN: Well, then on that — what you’re getting at, how — how — how immigrant citizens, voters, feel about people in the country illegally. ENTEN: Yes. And this is where it all kind of comes together Kate Bolduan. Look at this, the net favorable rating, immigrants who are here illegally, among immigrant citizens, again, those registered to vote. In 2020, look at this, plus 23 points on the net favorable rating. But look at where we were in 2024, minus six points. Underwater. So, immigrant citizens have become increasingly unfavorable in their views of those immigrants who are here illegally. So, I think it’s so important when we’re talking about this debate from a political angle to separate those out who are undocumented immigrants versus those who are here legally and those who are citizens and those who are voters, because that group of voters has felt increasingly distant from those immigrants who are here legally. And so, again, when we’re talking about this, at least from a political angle, this is why Donald Trump feels so comfortable, because, in fact, amongst the group that you would think that would be most opposed to this, in fact, they become increasingly favorable, not just towards — just towards Donald Trump, but towards the Republican point of view on immigration and becoming distant from those immigrants who are here illegally. BOLDUAN: Yes, an important baseline to consider as this — as this plays out in Los Angeles. ENTEN: Yes. We’ll see where we are in a few weeks. BOLDUAN: Yes, thanks so much, Harry.

RealClearPolitics Videos