Shock poll reveals Democrats haven’t learnt the first lesson of Trump’s historic victory

Watching from Australia, where emotions are high over new steel and aluminium tariffs, it’s easy to imagine that Trump is as unpopular in America as he is here. Not so fast, James Morrow writes.

Donald Trump’s enemies have a huge challenge on their hands.

Put simply, they must follow the most fundamental rule of politics: Just be normal.

Yet it is not clear that they can manage even that. Take just one example.

One of Trump’s major campaign promises was that he would close the border and kick out illegal immigrants, starting with violent criminals.

This all seems sensible enough, except that over the weekend an Obama-appointed federal judge issued an order stopping the Trump administration from kicking out alleged members of violent Venezuelan gangs that have terrorised cities and even taken over apartment complexes, even ordering any deportation flights in the air to turn around and come back to the US.

President Donald Trump waves from his limousine as he leaves Trump International Golf Club, Sunday, March 16. Picture: AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta

Watching from Australia, where emotions are high over new steel and aluminium tariffs, it’s easy to imagine that Trump is as unpopular in America as he is here and that the Democrats are riding high.

The truth is far different.

While Trump always has a pretty low popularity ceiling, he is more popular today than he was at this point in his first presidency.

Protestors wave Palestinian flags on the West Lawn of Columbia University on April 29, 2024 in New York. Picture: Timothy A Clary / AFP

Meanwhile the Democrats, who are supposed to form the loyal opposition, are in as much disarray as a freshly torched Tesla dealership (yes, torching Teslas is a thing now, because Elon Musk is Trump’s best buddy and lets people say what they want on X).

A new CNN poll reveals the ugly truth: Whatever they think about Trump, they are not buying the left’s alternate brand.

Just 29 per cent of Americans have a favourable view of the party, its lowest point since 1992.

Democrats are also divided 57-42 on the question of whether to obstruct, obstruct, obstruct the Trump agenda or work on bipartisan issues where they can.

And as far as who they regard as their “leader”, well, the fact that radical New York congresswoman Alexandia Ocasio-Cortez came out on top with just 10 per cent of the vote tells a lot.

So why is this happening, particularly with all the economic jitters around the place?

For one thing important to remember that Americans – Trump voters in particular – voted for more than just an economy.

Protesters carrying signs and chant slogans protesting Elon Musk and President Donald Trump outside a Tesla showroom and service center in the North Hollywood. Picture: AP Photo/Richard Vogel

During his campaign Trump’s entire mantra was that the US had spun badly out of control under the Democrats even if the share market was pumping.

Everything from the (on rough count) 10 million illegal aliens who streamed into the country under Joe Biden to wild anti-Israel, pro-Hamas campus protests that saw Jewish students barricading themselves in classrooms and libraries to escape the mob suggested he was right.

In the past several weeks illegal crossings at the southern border have dropped to virtually nil and moves are afoot to strip grant money from Columbia University, which was ground zero for some of the most extremist anti-Israel and frankly antisemitic protests.

Elites – for lack of a better word – are howling at the thought of the blunderbuss of cancel culture being turned around on them, with the New York Times in near-meltdown.

But everyone else asks why a university with a US$14 billion endowment is cadging tax money off Uncle Sam.

Trump voters will definitely care about a downturn in their retirement savings, and if the economy slides into a recession they may start to desert him.

But in the meantime, it’s the Democrats who have the bigger problem.