The truth is that:
1. In 2006 Congress passed the Secure Fence Act, which mandated the construction of multilayer pedestrian fencing along about 600 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border. It passed with big, bipartisan majorities: 283 votes in the House and 80 in the Senate. Some top Democrats who are still in the Senate today supported the fence: Chuck Schumer, Dianne Feinstein, Ron Wyden, Debbie Stabenow, and Sherrod Brown. But now CNSNews quoted Schumer as saying, “So, President Trump, if you want to open the government, you must abandon the wall, plain and simple. The Senate is not interested in swindling American taxpayers for an unnecessary, ineffective, and wasteful policy.” Odd, it wasn't unnecessary, ineffective, or wasteful in 2006. And since when did a Democrat give a damn about wasteful spending?
2. A new Quinnipiac poll of 1,147 voters, conducted Dec. 12-17, 2018, found that 43% now support a border wall and 54% oppose it. In August, support was at 38%, thereby reflecting a five-point jump in a relatively short period of time. More importantly for the president, 86% of Republicans and
47% of Independents support building the wall, while 51% oppose, with 90% of Democrats oppose it. True, more Independents do not support the wall, but 47% is pretty damn close to half.
Quinnipiac Poll: Voter Support for Border Wall Hits Record High
3. BTW, according to a recent Gallup poll taken about 2 weeks ago, the number one issue among the voters is “Government.” And that ain't a vote of confidence in Washington and, particularly, Congress. Number two on the list of concerns is “Immigration.” Again, hard to believe that this reflects a yearning for more “open borders.” Interestingly, these are the only items on the Gallup checklist that draw interest in the double digits.
4. Nowadays, nearly 50 million foreign-born immigrants living in the United States, perhaps nearly 15 million of them illegally, so sheer numbers have radically changed electoral politics. Take California. One out of every four residents in California is foreign-born. Not since 2006 has any California Republican been elected to statewide office.
The once solidly blue states of the American Southwest, including Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico, voted red as recently as 2004 for George W. Bush. Progressives understandably conclude that de facto open borders are good long-term politics, because large numbers of unassimilated immigrants added up to politically advantageous demography for Democrats in the long run. In contrast, a wall would likely reduce illegal immigration dramatically and with it future Democratic constituents. Legal, meritocratic, measured and diverse immigration in its place would likely end up being politically neutral. And without fresh waves of undocumented immigrants from south of the border, identity politics would wane. Democrats are not worried that it won't work, they're worried that it will.
5. Besides, the truth is that Trump wants it and so the Left fights it. Simple as that, it's pure politics. TDS runs rampant and very deep in the Lib/Dem political base.
