Dem voters were less enthusiastic when Trump touted crackdown on cartels and fentanyl, SOTU dial reveals
Republican and Independent voters reacted favorably when President Donald Trump brought up how his administration has cracked down on drug cartels and fentanyl, but Democrats appeared less motivated by Trump's...
By Fox News · Fox News
Republican and Independent voters reacted favorably when President Donald Trump brought up how his administration has cracked down on drug cartels and fentanyl, but Democrats appeared less motivated by Trump's aggressive foreign policy stance. "For years, large swaths of territory in our region, including large parts of Mexico, really large parts of Mexico, have been controlled by murderous drug cartels. That's why I designated these cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, and I declared illicit fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction," Trump said to applause as he turned to look at Republicans. Per a panel assembled by polling group Maslansky & Partners of 29 Democrats, 30 Independents, and 40 Republicans, which tracked their real-time reactions during Trump's SOTU address, Democrats appeared to go slightly below baseline when Trump began touting his aggressive stance towards cartels in Central and South America, specifically his administration's bombing campaign against them which has included attacks in the open ocean off the South American coastline and in the eastern Pacific. Meanwhile, Republicans and Independents showed a much stronger favorable reaction to the president's remarks about the actions his administration has taken against drug cartels and illegal fentanyl. TRUMP GETS HIGH MARKS FROM REPUBLICANS WHEN TICKING OFF ECONOMIC ACCOMPLISHMENTS During his address, Trump also highlighted the U.S.'s help in capturing drug kingpin "El Mencho" earlier this month in Mexico. Ruben "Nemesio" Oseguera Cervantes, known as "El Mencho," the leader of the CJNG, was killed Sunday in a Mexican military operation in Tapalpa, Mexico, authorities said. Though the operation was carried out by Mexican forces, the United States laid the groundwork, making El Mencho’s fall possible. On President Donald Trump ’s first day in office, he signed an executive order directing the State Department to designate several cartels and international criminal groups "foreign terr…