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CNN’s chief data analyst Harry Enten on Friday spotted how Americans aren’t in line with President Donald Trump’s plan to end birthright citizenship, noting that both Americans and legal scholars see such a move as a “fringy idea.”
“This is just from top to bottom a political loser for Donald Trump and Republicans,” said Enten who, just one day earlier, pointed to data showing that registered voters are getting “much closer” to Trump’s immigration policy in his second term.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court said it plans to hear oral arguments in May on Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship, a move that has been blocked by multiple district courts. Birthright citizenship is enshrined in the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which was ratified in 1868 after the Civil War.
When Americans were asked about ending birthright citizenship for children born to immigrants “illegally” in the U.S., Enten noted that 56% said they opposed such efforts while 41% backed the idea, per an average of Ipsos polls.
Enten then turned to a trend showing fewer and fewer Americans since 1992 support ending birthright citizenship for children born to immigrants “illegally” in America.
“The number has been going down, down, down ... which I think is quite surprising to a lot of folks because there’s, obviously, the anti-immigration fervor in this country seems higher,” he said, noting that the decreasing support “surprised” CNN’s John Berman and the figure is nearing “record lows.”
Enten added that birthright citizenship is not a winning “political battle” for Trump.
“If I were advising the Donald Trump White House, I’d say, stick to other issues on immigration, not this one, because this one, as I said, is a political loser,” he said before turning to a February poll in which 51% of Democrats found themselves “very motivated” to vote in the next election when considering the policy of ending birthright citizenship compared with 31% of Republicans who felt the same urge to vote in regard to the issue.
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Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the results of a February poll about whether the topic of birthright citizenship was a motivation for people to vote.
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