In case you were wondering how the temporary travel ban on six terrorist-active Muslim countries sits with the public, we have this from Steven Shepard’s article at politico.com:
Asked whether they support or oppose the State Department’s “new guidelines which say visa applicants from six predominately Muslim countries must prove a close family relationship with a U.S. resident in order to enter the country,” 60 percent of respondents said they support the guidelines, and only 28 percent oppose them.
Republicans overwhelmingly back the restrictions, the poll shows. Eighty-four percent of GOP respondents support the ban, while 9 percent oppose it. But the policy is also popular among independent respondents: 56 percent support it, compared with 30 percent who oppose it. Democrats tilt slightly against the ban, with 41 percent supporting it, and 46 percent in opposition.
If these data are correct, what do we see?
We see that Republicans are dramatically more supportive of this policy than Democrats. I doubt that would surprise many people.
But we also see that Independents – i.e. the people who are not committed to either party, thus most susceptible to changing their votes depending on individual issues – support it by almost a 2 to 1 margin.
If I were a Republican, that would make me feel pretty good about this poll.
And if I were a Democrat, that would make me feel pretty worried that this will be used as an issue in next year’s mid-term elections.
