In a weird realigning of political favorites, Democrats have moved to embrace the FBI, CIA and even the Internal Revenue Service while condemning Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the target of liberal ire over President Trump’s border enforcement, according to a new survey.
[Trump: Democrats who want to abolish ICE are ‘disciples of a very low IQ person, Maxine Waters’]
In the biggest contrast, 65 percent of Democrats have a “favorable” view of the IRS, while 72 percent have an unfavorable view of ICE, according to the Pew Research Center.
Even odder, the party that has a history of criticizing the FBI and CIA have embraced both. Some 77 percent of Democrats have a favorable view if the FBI and 63 percent of the CIA.
All of those agencies have been caught up in the Trump administration and the president’s criticism. And his views appear to drive how Republicans and Democrats look at the agencies.
Republicans, for example, like ICE. Some 72 percent have a favorable view of the agency enforcing Trump’s demand to deport criminal illegals. And less than 50 percent have a favorable view of the IRS and FBI, which is under fire from Trump for favoring Hillary Rodham Clinton in the 2016 elections.
Democrats have lined up to call for the end of ICE, though it appears to be a political statement and not one they would like to vote on in Congress.
Also, as Trump has urged the Environmental Protection Agency to slash costly regulations, Democrats have turned on it. Once their favorite agency, now 53 percent of Democrats have a favorable view, slightly less than the Republicans who used to hate the EPA.
