President Donald Trump has plenty of lessons he could take from the results of the 2026 midterm elections, but one might top the list: Stop mass deportations, now. Two years ago, the president ran on tightening up America’s immigration system, and voters overwhelmingly bought the message he was selling, so much so that he won over key voting blocs like young men and Hispanic people in margins the GOP had never experienced before. But in the two years since, voters have been watching Trump’s immigration promises turn into a cruel law-enforcement scheme that has killed U.S. citizens and set off a violent detention and deportation operation. Last week, millions of Americans indicated they had seen enough and chose Democrats over Republicans to represent them in what can only be interpreted as a full-scale repudiation of Trump’s—and his newly promoted chief of staff Stephen Miller’s—mass deportation agenda.
The Blue Tsunami Crashed Into The GOP. Now What?
“We’re going to have the largest deportation in the history of our country,” Trump proudly announced while campaigning for president two years ago, against the backdrop of his Los Angeles golf club. “And we’re going to start with Springfield [Ohio] and Aurora [Colorado].” It was around this time that he also unleashed a bizarre and racist attack on Haitian immigrants, many of whom live in Springfield, Ohio, who he claimed were “eating the dogs” and “eating the cats.” He also exaggerated claims that Aurora was suffering from Venezuelan gangs whose members were “destroying our country.”
The sentiment behind these at times grotesque claims resonated with many voters who said they were tired of watching the Biden administration simply give in to the mass migration hitting the U.S. southern border. Trump’s hard-on-immigration stance led to massive swings from a more racially and ethnically diverse coalition of voters than Trump had earned in 2016 and 2020. Among Hispanic voters, 48 percent voted for Trump in 2024, compared to only 36 percent in 2020. Similar gains were seen among Black voters, as 15 percent voted for Trump in 2024, compared to only 8 percent in 2020. Asian voters also increased their support for Trump, with 40 percent backing him in 2024, compared to 30 percent in 2020.
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