CNN’s chief information analyst Harry Enten on Tuesday argued that President Donald Trump’s proposal to reopen the infamous former federal jail at Alcatraz is tied to his favorable polling in relation to tackling crime.
“Sure, I do know it’s late-night fodder for lots of various of us. However what it really speaks to is Donald Trump focusing the American folks’s consideration on a difficulty by which they really do like what he’s doing,” Enten informed CNN’s Kate Bolduan.
Trump, in a post to his Truth Social platform Sunday, wrote that he was directing federal companies to reopen a “considerably enlarged and rebuilt” Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay to “home America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders.”
Alcatraz — which symbolized inescapable and merciless situations on account of its most safety and site — held noteworthy criminals in its 29-year run earlier than shuttering in 1963 after it fell into disrepair.
The island, which Native American activists famously occupied from 1969 to 1971, now hosts 1.2 million tourists a year and commemorates the historic occupation.
Specialists have pressured that reopening a jail on the island could prove to be expensive and, as one sociology professor who has written about Alcatraz put it to Time magazine, a brand new facility would probably simply be a publicity stunt for Trump.
Enten, whereas arguing how Trump’s proposal falls in keeping with certainly one of his “finest” performing points within the polls, turned to Ipsos numbers displaying Trump with a web approval score of two share factors when registered voters had been requested about his dealing with of crime final month.
This determine, Enten famous, is “much better” than one from Joe Biden, who had a web approval score of – 26 share factors with registered voters on the identical problem final 12 months.
“You hardly ever ever see it,” Enten stated.
“So Donald Trump ran partly on regulation and order. It was one of many causes that he received elected. And at this specific level, People like what they’re listening to from him on the problem of crime.”
Trump’s web approval score on dealing with crime additionally rose by 15 share factors between March 2024 to April of this 12 months, in line with Ipsos polling.