Now that President Trump has placed the National Guard in (federally run) Washington D.C. and has threatened to do it in other major cities as well, what is the political fallout? Who are the winners and who are the losers.
Maybe this just-released poll from the Associated Press will give us some insight.
From Jill Colvin and Linley Sanders’ article for the AP:
As armed National Guard troops patrol the nation’s capital as part of an unprecedented federal takeover of Washington’s police department, handling crime is now a relative strength for President Donald Trump, according to the latest AP-NORC poll.
Americans are generally not happy about the Republican president’s handling of issues like immigration and the economy but are more positive about his tough-on-crime approach, according to the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Indeed, the vast majority of Americans, 81%, see crime as a “major problem” in large cities — a concern Trump has seized on as he has deployed the National Guard to the District of Columbia and threatened to expand that model to cities across the country. And his overall approval rating has increased slightly, from 40% in July to 45% now.
As you can see, the article states – as grudgingly as Colvin and Sanders could make it (i.e. the throw-ins about other issues being losers and the downplaying of a 5% jump in approval) – that Trump’s action is a winner for him – and, presumably, Republicans in general…
…which means the Democrats who are fighting Trump on his efforts to address crime, are on the losing side of this issue.
Will this result in Washington D.C. voting Republican in November? Of course not. Not even remotely close. Nor will Democrats lose their overwhelming ownership of other cities Trump has threatened to deploy The Guard to, such as Chicago and New York.
But I would bet a lot that it means Republicans will do better in those cities than they have in the recent past. And, it would stand to reason, if Republicans are reasonably adept at making crime a major national issue, they will benefit among voters everywhere else as well.
Think about it: what, exactly, is the Democrat answer? To tell people who believe crime is a major issue that they don’t know what they’re talking about? That what they see on the news every day doesn’t exist? How’d you like to run an election on that?
Bottom line: to the surprise of just about no one, fighting crime is a winner…and fighting people who fight crime is a loser.
Now: how can Democrats extricate themselves from the damage they have done so far (and continue to do) by being on the wrong side of this issue? Especially since they continue to loudly, angrily remain on the wrong side of this issue?
I don’t see a way. Do you?
