CNN’s senior data reporter Harry Enten named the executive order that Donald Trump has signed this week that may lead to his “honeymoon period” as president already being over.
Trump on his first day back in office Monday ordered the end of birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants. Democratic-led states are already legally challenging the move. Birthright citizenship is enshrined under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.
Trump, “by pushing policies like this, is just trying to eliminate his honeymoon period completely,” Enten suggested on Tuesday’s “Newsroom.”
“This is just not a popular policy,” he noted.
Drilling down into polling figures, Enten said ending birthright citizenship currently had 35% support versus 53% opposition.
“I’ve looked at multiple polls, looked at the question asked multiple different ways,” he continued. “If anything, this undersells the opposition by a little bit.”
“Simply put, this is not a popular policy,” he added. “And if Donald Trump pushes policies like this, his honeymoon period will squeeze and be even shorter than it was back in 2017.”
Support for ending birthright citizenship has for years hovered between 30 to 35% in polls, Enten said.
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“You don’t really see consistency like this across many poll questions but you see it here,” he said. “Consistently, the percentage of Americans who support ending birthright citizenship is only about a third of the country, and it, simply put, has not moved no matter which politicians get in.”
A “large chunk” of Trump’s GOP base “abandons” him on the issue, he added.
“Trump would be much better off focusing on lowering taxes and cracking down on immigrants who are here illegally and have committed crimes,” the journalist concluded. “That is a much more popular policy. Support ending birthright citizenship, simply put, is not popular.”