Yesterday’s Republican caucus in Iowa — won handily by former President Donald Trump who left precious little behind for the three remaining also-rans to split among themselves — has revealed one thing that most pundits have so far gotten very wrong: it’s not the economy; it’s immigration.
More precisely, it’s illegal migration across our southern border. Referring to a pre-caucus poll by the Associated Press, Bloomberg is reporting that 40 percent of Iowa Republicans find immigration, not the economy, their most important political issue.
CBS News’s own exit poll revealed the same thing: 40 percent of Iowa caucus participants regard immigration as the number one issue, followed by the economy (35 percent) and foreign policy and abortion (each well back at 11 percent).
Joe Biden’s egregious neglect of the crisis on our southern border, which has permitted literal millions to enter our country illegally in the space of only a few years, has vaulted border control to the top of Iowan Republicans’ concerns. As Iowa Republican Party Chair Jeff Kaufmann said at a roundtable discussion on Sunday: “I really think the border has become paramount. It’s not going away.”
For more, see Bloomberg.