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DES MOINES — Republicans like to say every state is now a border state, and that sentiment shined through with former President Donald Trump’s commanding victory in the Iowa caucuses.
Voters signaled their frustration with illegal immigration under President Biden and ranked the issue a close second behind the economy as their top priority, according to surveys of caucusgoers.
They looked to Mr. Trump as the best leader to control the chaos at the U.S.-Mexico border and stem the flow of illegal immigrants and fentanyl entering the U.S.
Of 34% who said immigration was their top concern, 64% voted for Mr. Trump on Monday. They were the most supportive group in issue-based entrance polling.
Mr. Trump’s closest rivals didn’t come close. Among border voters at the caucuses, 18% backed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and 11% supported Nikki Haley, a former ambassador to the United Nations.
“As soon as I take the oath of office, I will terminate every open border policy of the Biden administration and begin the largest deportation operation in American history,” Mr. Trump said at his final pre-caucus rally. “What is happening to our country is not sustainable.”
Mr. Trump’s strength on the border issue helped fuel his historic win in the caucuses with 51% of the vote.
Overall, the economy was the top issue among 38% of Iowa voters; 12% favored foreign policy and 11% said abortion.
Concerns about border policies have been mounting since Mr. Trump crashed onto the political scene in 2015 and made illegal immigration his signature issue.
In 2016, 13% of Iowa caucusgoers ranked immigration as their top issue, behind concerns about government spending, 32%, the economy and jobs, 27%, and terrorism, 25%.
Kari Lake, a Trump acolyte running for the U.S. Senate in Arizona, said the growing focus on immigration shows voters are feeling the effect of the “devastating policy that the Democrats have inflicted upon us.”
“You know why every state is a border state is because Joe Biden on Day One, hour one, pulled back an incredibly effective border policy that Donald J. Trump put in place,” Ms. Lake said at Mr. Trump’s caucus night party in Des Moines. “Joe Biden is asleep at the wheel licking an ice cream cone.”
Mr. Biden has faced a rising tide of criticism over his more lenient approach to the border.
He axed the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” program, agreements with Central American countries and other policies that largely solved the border problem by 2020.
Ms. Lake said the border solutions will soon return.
“President Trump is putting his foot down and saying, ‘No, we are going to stand up for America, the American worker, American manufacturing, American national security’ — and stop it.”
Polls show a majority of voters, including independents and Hispanics, disapprove of the way Mr. Biden has handled the border.
Mr. DeSantis tried to steal some of Mr. Trump’s thunder on the issue. He criticized Mr. Trump for falling short of his promises of border wall construction and ending birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants. He said Mr. Trump deported fewer illegal immigrants than President Obama.
Yet Mr. DeSantis trailed far behind Mr. Trump among voters most concerned about immigration and finished a distant second on Monday.
He did outperform Mr. Trump, 46% to 25%, among those most concerned about abortion.
Mr. Trump bested Mr. DeSantis with “very conservative voters” (61% to 26%), White evangelical Christian voters (53% to 27%) and those looking for someone who shares their values (43% to 31%).
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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