Deploying United States Armed Forces to the nation’s southern border to combat drug trafficking and cut illegal immigration is the most popular policy position that GOP presidential primary candidates can take, an NBC News poll reveals.
Among general election voters, NBC News tested a number of policy positions taken by Republican presidential candidates. The leading issue that garnered the most support: Sending troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to fight the drug trade and illegal immigration.
About 55 percent of general election voters said they would be more likely to back a candidate for president who supported sending troops to the border to stop drug trafficking. Less than 3-in-10 said they would be less likely to support a candidate holding this position.
Likewise, 46 percent of general election voters said they would be more likely to support a candidate that vowed to deploy troops to the border to help reduce illegal immigration. A minority of 40 percent said they would be less likely to back such a candidate.
The poll is welcome news for former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, both of whom have released policy frameworks to end illegal immigration.
Days ago, for instance, Trump said he would “shift massive portions of the existing federal law enforcement apparatus to immigration enforcement” while DeSantis listed deploying troops to the border to help build a border wall as one of many policy prescriptions on the issue.
Another policy goal of many GOP presidential candidates, including Trump and DeSantis, is nationwide mandatory E-Verify to protect America’s workforce from illegal labor competition.
Rasmussen Reports, which regularly tracks Americans’ attitudes on illegal immigration and legal immigration levels, has repeatedly found that mandatory E-Verify remains one of the most popular policy positions that a politician can hold.
Most recently, nearly 70 percent of likely voters told Rasmussen Reports they support a nationwide mandatory E-Verify policy and 61 percent said they prefer U.S. businesses recruit unemployed Americans for jobs rather than importing foreign workers.
Nationwide mandatory E-Verify, as well as significant cutbacks or outright eliminations of temporary visa worker programs, is perhaps more vital to America’s working and middle class than ever before, as President Joe Biden has drastically driven up foreign competition in the labor market.
As employment of native-born Americans declines, Biden has helped funnel more foreign workers into U.S. jobs than ever before since the Labor Department began tracking the data in 1996.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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