Ever since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, Democrats have been desperately trying to manufacture a scandal — any scandal — to derail his presidency. Their latest effort? Blaming Trump for the chaos unfolding during the anti-ICE riots. According to their narrative, the violence didn’t start until Trump deployed the National Guard to defend ICE officers and federal property. They claim that he escalated the situation.
It’s a laughable claim, especially when video evidence and eyewitness accounts show a city already engulfed in lawlessness. Despite coordinated messaging between Democrat leaders and their media allies, the public isn’t buying it.
The smear campaign is falling flat.
According to a new YouGov poll, more Americans disapprove than approve of the riots in Los Angeles targeting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. While Democrats and the media have tried to paint the demonstrations in a favorable light, the numbers tell a different story. Just 36% of adults say they support the protests, compared to 45% who oppose them. Another 19% remain unsure.
If Democrats thought they’d take down Trump with these riots... the polls say something completely different. pic.twitter.com/2ukumiNbKo
— Matt Margolis (@mattmargolis) June 10, 2025
The partisan breakdown highlights just how out of step Democrats are with the broader electorate. While 58% of Democrats approve of the protests, only 34% of independents and a mere 15% of Republicans feel the same. On the flip side, 73% of Republicans and 41% of independents disapprove, compared to just 26% of Democrats. Despite all the spin, this is not a winning issue outside the far-left base.
How bad is this situation for the Democrats? The immigration issue has become such a strong one for Trump and the Republican Party that even immigrant voters, once considered a reliable Democrat stronghold, are swinging hard to the right on immigration and throwing their support behind Donald Trump in record numbers.
Related: WATCH: Maxine Waters Literally Tells Americans Not to Believe Footage of Riot Violence
“Immigrant voters, foreign-born voters, have gone tremendously to the right on this issue in 2024 and 2025 versus where they were in 2020,” CNN's Harry Enten explained. Back in 2020, Democrats enjoyed a comfortable 32-point lead among immigrant voters on the issue of immigration. But those days are gone. According to Enten, there has been “a 40-point shift to the right among immigrant voters,” and Republicans now lead Democrats by eight points on the issue, more than with any other demographic group.
This isn’t a marginal shift; it’s a political earthquake. And it’s not just about party preference; it’s also about attitudes toward Donald Trump himself.
Long dismissed as radioactive to immigrant voters, Trump is now seeing a surge in support that few thought possible. In 2016, he pulled 36% of the immigrant citizen vote. That ticked up to 39% in 2020. But in 2024, he’s jumped to 47% — and in some polls, he’s either tied or outright leading among immigrant voters. It’s a stunning political reversal that shatters the old assumptions.
That political shift mirrors a broader transformation in how immigrant citizens perceive illegal immigration. Back in 2020, illegal immigrants enjoyed a net favorable rating of +23 points among immigrant voters. By 2024, that number had plunged to -6. This dramatic drop completely undercuts the left’s go-to narrative that immigrant communities automatically align in solidarity with those here illegally.
Enten emphasized that legal immigrant voters are distancing themselves from illegal immigrants. “That group of voters has felt increasingly distant from those immigrants who are here illegally,” he explained.
This is why Trump and Republicans are gaining ground. The very voters Democrats thought would reject Trump’s tough immigration stance are now embracing it. “They’ve become increasingly favorable… towards the Republican point of view on immigration,” Enten said.
The trend is undeniable: Democrats are losing immigrant voters on an issue they once owned. Trump’s agenda is breaking through, and for the left, that’s a political disaster in the making.
