All in all, four out of ten Americans are just another brick in the wall.
A recent Bloomberg Politics National Poll, conducted by Selzer & Co. polling firm, discovered that 41% of Americans approve of the idea of a “brick-and-mortar wall” between the United States and Canada.
The poll asked a range of questions about politicians, political positions, and the direction of the country. A pair of questions deep in the poll revealed the startlingly mainstream opinion. Respondents were asked if they agreed with the position: “There should be a brick-and-mortar wall between the U.S. and Mexico.”
Forty-one percent agreed with that proposition, and 55% disagreed. Given the popularity of 2016 Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump and his anti-Latino demagoguery, it’s not too surprising that this view is widely held in the current zeitgeist. But isolationist paranoia goes insanely deep among a significant minority.
Respondents were immediately asked if they agreed with a followup statement: “If a wall is good for the Mexico border, it is good for the Canada border as well.” Astoundingly, the response was virtually the same as the previous question with 41% agreeing, and only 1 percent more, 56%, disagreeing.
The idea of a wall between the US and Mexico is preposterous on its face. It is impractical, would be cost prohibitive, would accomplish very little, and would unnecessarily strain relations with Mexico. But a wall between the US and Canada? That is totally absurd.
Forty-one percent of Americans, explain to us: what would be the purpose of a 4,000-mile wall along the border with our primary trading partner, and neighbor with whom we share culture, language and excellent relations? Why do you think that would be a good idea, or even possible?
The US-Canada border is one of the most peaceful and stable international borders in all of world history. A wall dividing the countries would be almost three-fourths the length of the Great Wall of China. No one has attempted to build a wall like that in over 2,000 years. Vice News estimates it would cost $60 billion to build, which is to say nothing of maintaining it.
The reason Bloomberg asked the question is because Scott Walker floated the idea of a US-Canada wall as a “serious” policy suggestion a few weeks ago. His campaign was flagging, partly due to the rise of Trump. Walker obviously said it as a way of trying to be even more ridiculous than the Republican’s orangutan-pelt-wearing front-runner. After seeing this poll, will Walker un-suspend his campaign that went big and went home?
The fact that so many Americans support such a ludicrous idea shows that crackpot fringe positions have conquered the mainstream of right wing “thought.” Bloomberg interviewed a poll respondent who agreed with building a wall. He was a Trump-supporting 73-year-old truck driver from Tennessee, named Jake Crosan. Crosan said of the need for a wall between American and Canada,
“If you cut off one, they’re going to come in the other way.”
Oh, right. Now it makes sense. If we don’t let “them” come in from Mexico, then “they” will just come in from Canada. Ya know, after swimming around “us.”
Make sure you vote in your primary and in the general next year. You can bet Jake will be voting.
Feature image via Flickr.
http://reverbpress.com/politics/poll-41-americans-support-wall-us-canada/
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