Donald Trump and his MAGA lackeys have done a bang-up job making progressive positions and policies more popular than ever. It’s human nature to take well-entrenched conditions for granted (e.g., the Department of Justice’s commitment to justice, access to cutting-edge medical research, an available supply of dependable farm and construction workers, predictable foreign policy). It is only when those things are dramatically snuffed out by a hyper-extreme and entirely inept regime that people come to appreciate what they once assumed were permanent features of American society and politics. Trump’s evisceration of popular programs and eradication of freedoms we used to enjoy have made Americans cling ever more tightly to those programs and freedoms.
Consider abortion rights. “Six in ten Americans (61 percent) say abortion should be legal in most or all cases, according to a new survey report from PRRI.” Only 36 percent say abortion should be illegal in all or most cases, while “the share of Americans who say abortion should be illegal in all cases has dropped by half since 2010, from 15% to 8% in 2025.” There is nothing like forced birth laws that lead to maternal deaths, anti-scientific dictates to cut off medical abortions, and defunding of Planned Parenthood to remind Americans that doctors and women, not politicians, should make healthcare decisions.
Likewise, public approval of the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid has gone up, as Americans learned last year the MAGA president and Congress were cutting access to pay for tax cuts for the rich. Last June, KFF pollsters found: “Two in three Americans — an all-time high — view the Affordable Care Act favorably.” That happened just as Trump and MAGA Republicans adamantly rejected pleas to extend ACA subsidies, “which would lead to millions losing their health insurance coverage.”
The impact on Medicaid was even more dramatic last year: “Overall favorability of Medicaid, the health care program for low-income adults and children is now at 83%, including majorities of Democrats (93%), independents (83%), and Republicans (74%).” That was a 6-point increase from the previous year and an 11-point increase among Republicans.
If you remind the public who benefits from Medicaid (e.g. children, seniors in nursing homes, addicts in treatment, people with disabilities, the working poor, pregnant women) and show the harm resulting from enormous cuts, Americans become very protective of a program that people like Russ Vought insist only fraudsters and illegal immigrants use. The KFF pollsters reported last year:
More than half say it would be “very difficult” to afford their prescription medications (68%), afford to see a health care provider (59%) or get and pay for another form of coverage insurance coverage (56%) if they lost Medicaid. In addition, most Medicaid enrollees say losing Medicaid coverage would have a “major impact” on their financial well-being (75%), overall quality of life (69%), their mental health (66%), and their physical health (60%).
We see the same phenomenon on the immigration front. As Trump mounted his mass deportation scheme, the public recoiled in horror. Gallup last year found record highs in support for immigration (79% said it is good for America). Meanwhile, the pollsters found “support for allowing undocumented immigrants to become U.S. citizens has risen to 78%, up from 70% last year ….Approval is higher still, albeit statistically unchanged, for offering individuals brought to the U.S. illegally as children a pathway to citizenship, with support holding above 80%.”
In the wake of the disastrous, violent surges in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Minnesota and the CECOT ordeal, Americans have become even more critical of Trump’s mass deportation scheme. Poll after poll shows Americans think Trump has gone too far and that ICE has been abusive. As E.J. Dionne wrote:
The almost perfect symmetry of the findings of The Economist/YouGov poll is striking. In March 2025, 51% approved of Trump’s handling of immigration while 44% disapproved. In March 2026, 43% approved and 52% disapproved. Polling averages showed similar declines. Especially damaging to Trump and his party was the sharp decline in support for the president among Latinos, with whom he made major inroads in the 2024 election. In The Economist/YouGov survey, his approval rating among Hispanics stood at 48% approve, 47% disapprove in March 2025; by March 2026, his ratings among Latinos had fallen to 31% approve, 60% disapprove.
(Polls uniformly document this backlash.)
Most recently, Reuters/Ipsos pollsters found, “Americans also support giving many migrants living in the U.S. illegally a way to stay in the country. Some 76% of respondents in the poll said unauthorized migrants who have jobs and no criminal record should have a way to gain legal status.” Even more frightening for Republicans, Americans by a ten-point margin (25 among independents) are less likely to support a candidate who backs Trump on immigration.
If you deploy indiscriminate violence, bust into people’s homes, kill Americans, terrorize cities, deport neighbors and workers, and depress business activity, Americans suddenly want to be much more selective about who gets deported.
Many Trump critics are puzzled as to why so many people voted for Trump if they did not like the policies he promised to pursue. Well, some did not believe him (or pretended he didn’t mean what he said), and others weren’t paying attention. Some likely thought it wouldn’t be all that bad or that Congress [hah!] would restrain him). Now that they see what MAGA policies mean in practice, they have embraced progressive policies and programs (e.g., access to safe abortions, Medicaid, ACA, humane immigration).
In advance of the midterms, Democrats should remember voters did not embrace the policies Trump implemented. It is one thing to warn voters about the potential implementation of Project 2025; it is another for them to learn for themselves what those noxious ideas mean in practice. Democrats should not be shy about articulating their views; the public agrees with them on social safety net programs, abortion and immigration (not to mention reasonable gun control and climate change).
The midterms are a referendum on cruel, chaotic MAGA rule, but beyond the midterms, Democrats must paint a vivid picture of the choice voters face: MAGA nihilism, corruption, cruelty, and oligarchic rule vs. Democrats’ actual objective (not Republican caricature, e.g., “socialism” or “open borders”), namely, functional government, improvement of safety net programs, humane immigration policy with border protection, personal freedoms to define one’s life, and fairness for the little guy and gal. After Trump 2.0, voters seem more than ready to embrace the latter.
Thank you for this reminder of all who has been harmed as a result of this administration. And thank you for bringing up abortion rights where minority views have been imposed on the majority.
The names 'progressive' and 'liberal' have different meanings to different people. Those labels have been used by MAGA to beat up on people for a long time. Turns out, when We the People have Project 2025 jammed down our throats, names start to matter less, and how people are actually treated matters more. And then, words like 'fascist' and 'dictator' and 'corrupt' and 'regime' take on new meaning. Things have gotten personal real quick.