A majority of swing state voters say Biden bears responsibility for the surge in migration toward the United States, something that could become an electoral liability as the issue gains importance in the mind of the electorate.
According to a new Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll, six in 10 voters from these states gave the aforementioned answer. And while the economy remains the top issue when it comes to deciding their votes, immigration has spiked in the latest installment of this monthly poll.
This is especially the case in Arizona, North Carolina and Wisconsin: concern among voters from the state spiked this month, with 20% of them naming it as their top deciding issue, compared to slightly more than 10% the month before.
Similar spikes were registered among voters from the other two states, all of them seemingly at the expense of the economy, which saw a proportional decline. It is now the top issue for less than 30% of the voters in Arizona, when almost 40% had given that answer the prior month.
Former president Donald Trump's comparative strength can be extrapolated to a macro analysis, as he leads Biden 48% to 42% in a head-to-head matchup in the seven swing states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Trump also leads in all of the states individually, ranging from a 3 percentage point lead in Pennsylvania and Arizona to a 10 percentage point one in North Carolina.
Voters did consider factors from outside the U.S. as catalysts for the surge in migration, including corruption and difficult economic conditions in other countries, with almost 80% of respondents saying they were impacting factors. More than 60% also cited war and famine in other countries.
At a domestic level, however, Biden is held responsible by the largest proportion of voters. Democrats are a close second with slightly less than 60% of voters holding them responsible, while Republicans in Congress got the blame from 40% and the Trump administration from 30%.
Immigration enforcement is at the center of the political conversation in the U.S., especially whether an agreement between Democrats and Republicans in Congress can be passed in the following days.
Tensions emerged between Republican lawmakers during the past days following pressure from former president Donald Trump to tank the deal on border security, as negotiators from both parties said they were getting closer to an agreement.
According to Senator Mitt Romney, one of the high-profile Republican officials who is at odds with Trump, the former president doesn't want the deal to go forward to continue using it as a talking point during the campaign trail.
President Joe Biden further pressured Republicans to pass the deal, saying that is willing to exercise the ability to shut down the border if it's passed.
"What's been negotiated would —if passed into law— be the toughest and fairest set of reforms to secure the border we've ever had in our country," Biden said. "It would give me, as President, a new emergency authority to shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed. And if given that authority, I would use it the day I sign the bill into law."
In parallel, House Republicans took a decisive step toward impeaching Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in the early hours of Wednesday, following a party-line over what they claim are unlawful measures regarding immigration.
Concretely, the Homeland Security Committee recommended two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas, sending the initiative to the full House for a vote, a move that The Associated Press described as a "rare charge against a Cabinet official unseen in nearly 150 years."
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