Washington lobbyists on K Street—including a strong majority of Republican respondents—have warned that President Donald Trump’s approach to immigration enforcement could politically damage the GOP in this year’s midterms, according to a new Punchbowl News survey.
As the area in Washington, D.C. is seen as the center of the U.S. lobbying and advocacy sectors, the views from those working on K Street will matter to lawmakers in Congress, with influential figures there often impacting policy decisions.
More than three-quarters of Republican participants in The Canvass survey said the administration’s use of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) would harm the party in November, while only 17 percent said it would help.
Newsweek has reached out to the Republican National Committee via contact form for comment.
Why It Matters
While President Trump returned to the White House just over a year ago promising to be tough on immigration, his campaign message was about targeting the “worst of the worst.” For some, that goal appears to have been lost, amid sweeping operations in communities across the country which have seen immigrants without criminal records detained and U.S. citizens killed. The recent stalemate over Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding in Congress has also divided voters.
What To Know
Punchbowl News reported that 88 percent of K Street leaders overall believed the administration’s approach to immigration enforcement would harm Republicans, signaling skepticism even among a business-oriented constituency that typically aligns with the party on regulatory and economic issues.
Just one-quarter of The Canvass respondents, surveyed between February 10 and March 2, placed immigration among the top three issues for voters in the midterms, while K Street leaders cited inflation and the economy as the leading concerns, followed by health care at 34 percent.
While the MAGA and America First movements made bolstering ICE and Border Patrol central to their agenda, there has been a widening gap between those further to the right and more centrist voters when it comes to how these agencies operate. The partial shutdown standoff has sharpened those divisions ahead of what could become the longest government shutdown—partial or full—in U.S. history.
Ahead of the midterms, both parties will be trying to figure out what policies matter most to voters, with the GOP seeking to keep control of both chambers of Congress, and Democrats wanting to at least gain back the House to seek to limit the Trump administration’s policies.
What People Are Saying
Alex Patton, strategist general consultant at Ozean Media and Meer Research, told Newsweek: “Immigration enforcement is one piece of a larger picture of voter anxiety the Trump administration has created for itself. Self-inflicted headwinds rarely stay isolated. They compound. Adding heavy-handed immigration to a mix of [the Jeffrey] Epstein files, war, inflation, and gas prices creates a toxic situation.”
Markwayne Mullin, secretary of Homeland Security, in a press release on March 24: “Under the leadership of President Trump, DHS has delivered historic successes including the most secure border in American history. Together, we will reach new heights on behalf of the American people.”
I do not take this charge lightly. Every day, I will work alongside you to keep our borders secure, enforce our immigration laws, safeguard U.S. cyber infrastructure, deliver rapid relief to Americans in the face of natural disasters, and deter terror threats.
Quantus Insights, in a March 27 report, said: “The White House still retains a loyal and intense base, especially among Republicans, rural voters, and older Americans. But the broader electorate is sending a colder message. The public mood is dark, the president is underwater, and the congressional ballot already tilts toward the opposition. If those conditions hold, this survey may prove to be more than a snapshot of discontent. It may be an early map of the midterm terrain ahead.”
What Happens Next
The survey’s results suggested Republican strategists and candidates could recalibrate midterm messaging toward economic issues that K Street leaders indicated are more salient to voters, including inflation and jobs.
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