Battleground Voters: Trump’s Nationalist GOP ‘America First,’ Democrats Prefer Foreigners

The vast majority of likely midterm election voters in the battleground states of Florida, Arizona, and Indiana say the GOP is the political party of American citizens, while Democrats increasingly prefer foreign nationals and immigrants.

In the latest CBS News/YouGov battleground tracker poll, Florida, Indiana, and Arizona likely voters expressed a general disdain for immigration from Central America. The three states are seeing hotly contested Senate races between Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Gov. Rick Scott (R), Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Rep. Martha McSally (R-AZ), and Sen. Joe Donelly (D-IN) and Mike Braun (R).

President Trump’s populist-nationalist “America First” agenda — with protective trade and immigration policies — has become identified with the Republican Party for midterm voters.

In Florida and Arizona, half of likely midterm voters say Democrat politicians put the needs and wants of newly-arrived immigrants and foreign nationals over the interests of American citizens. In Indiana, a majority of 52 percent of likely voters say foreigners are made a priority over U.S. citizens to Democrats.

The GOP, on the other hand, is now widely identified as representing the American citizen — a message that has been driven by Trump, himself.

In Arizona and Indiana, close to 80 percent of likely voters say Republicans are the party of U.S. citizens and their interests. In Florida, more than 70 percent of likely voters say Republicans put the interests of U.S. citizens ahead of foreigners.

Trump’s message to voters ahead of the midterm elections has centered around American nationalism, what he defines as patriotism to the nation in face of the globalist, internationalist agenda of the Democrat Party.

[Nationalism] means I love the country, it means I’m fighting for the country,” Trump recently said in an interview with Fox News. “I look at two things, globalists and nationalists.”

“I’m somebody that wants to take care of our country, because for many, many years … our leaders have been more worried about the world than they have about the United States, and they leave us in a mess,” Trump continued.

“I’m proud of this country and I call that ‘nationalism,'” Trump said. “I call it being a nationalist and I don’t see any other connotation than that.”