Wellness Check on Dems After New Poll on Biden's 'Most Unpopular Decision' Portends Their Fate

A lot of polls have been released over the last several months that point to what could be a catastrophic Election Day for Democrats come November 2022. But one just released Wednesday pinpoints the specific decision President Biden has made during his time in office that is “most unpopular” with voters, a decision could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back for Democrats as far as fence-sitting voters are concerned.

Per Morning Consult, 56% of voters are very unhappy with the Biden administration’s recent announcement that they would be allowing Title 42 to expire near the end of May. According to the poll, it’s Biden’s “most unpopular decision” to date with Republicans and independent voters disapproving in large numbers:

-A majority of registered voters (56%) oppose the decision to remove the border controls implemented by the Trump administration, the largest backlash against a Biden administration policy among dozens tracked by Morning Consult since January 2021.
-The response to the Title 42 decision eclipses the negative reaction to Biden’s September directive to raise the cap on refugees admitted into the country from 15,000 to 125,000 for the 2022 fiscal year.
-While 60% of Democratic voters support the move, just 31% of independents and 8% of Republicans feel similarly.

Here’s the color graphic breakdown:

New @MorningConsult/@politico survey shows 56% of voters oppose Biden’s plan to sunset Title 42 border controls, making it his most unpopular decision yet.

Read more from me here: https://t.co/1AAy5foB18 pic.twitter.com/x0XIswGpBE

— Cameron Easley (@cameron_easley) April 6, 2022

Further, they also note this data lines up with past polling that has shown considerable voter dissatisfaction with his handling of the border crisis, even when his overall approval ratings weren’t upside down:

From day one, Morning Consult survey data has shown Biden’s executive actions on immigration to be his most unpopular, and even when the president was enjoying favorable approval ratings early on, voters tended to disapprove of his handling of the issue. For example, a March 2021 survey found that just 40% of voters approved of Biden’s immigration handling, 18 percentage points lower than his overall approval rating at the time.

[…]

Among 14 issues tracked on a biweekly basis, the latest survey found that 55% of voters disapprove of Biden’s handling of immigration — a figure only exceeded by the 57% who disapprove of his handling of the economy.

It is perhaps with that knowledge in mind that we’ve seen even some panicked (and vulnerable) House and Senate Democrats over the last several days express alarm over the Biden administration’s decision, including Sens. Joe Manchin (WV), Kyrsten Sinema (AZ), Mark Kelly (AZ), Maggie Hassan (NH), and Raphael Warnock (GA). In particular, Warnock stated that “this is not the right time.” Manchin called it “frightening” and also indicated he’d support making Title 42 permanent.

The announcement also understandably outraged Congressional Republicans, especially those living in border states who see the devastating impact of unchecked illegal immigration on their communities every day. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) absolutely went off on House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) on the issue during a committee markup earlier, telling him that he was “sick and tired” of Democrats “scoffing at Texas,” one of the states that gets hit the hardest when the border surges take place.