Trump's Support Among Young Men Goes Up in Flames as Midterms Loom
www.thedailybeast.com

... President Donald Trump's support among young male voters has collapsed in recent months, according to new polling, signaling a potentially serious challenge for Republicans as the midterm elections approach.

A new poll conducted by center-left group Third Way and shared with Politico shows that just 32 percent of men aged 18-29 approve of Trump, while 66 percent disapprove.

That 34-point deficit marks a dramatic reversal from Trump's 2024 performance, when he carried male voters aged 18 to 29 by 14 points en route to reclaiming the presidency. That was a far cry from 2020, when former President Joe Biden won the demographic with 52 percent of the vote. ...

In South Texas, the GOP immigration hard line is now political kryptonite
www.politico.com

... Texas Republicans bet on continuing to win over Latino voters. Then Trump began his aggressive deportation campaign.

Backlash to President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown is putting vulnerable Republicans in a tough spot, forcing them to shift their tone to appease frustrated Hispanic voters " or risk losing key battleground seats.

It's a delicate pivot for Republicans in South Texas, who spent years taking a hardline approach on immigration and flipped historically blue districts in the process.

Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz, representing a majority-Hispanic district, has gone from calling for mass deportations to focusing on the "worst of the worst." In lieu of expediting removals, she wants to create new visa categories for undocumented workers to fill jobs in construction and agriculture. And instead of slamming the Biden White House for its "border failure," she's setting up private meetings at the Trump White House to plead for temperance in immigration enforcement.

Rep. Tony Gonzales, whose district shares hundreds of miles with Mexico, wants his party to talk more about the border, and said he plans to "continue to advocate that the Republican Party needs to focus on convicted criminal illegal aliens" amid broad outrage over deportations of undocumented people with no proven risk to public safety.

Like other Republicans, they are trying to slowly distance themselves from the massive immigration crackdown that has quickly become political kryptonite for the GOP -- but without being seen as disloyal to the president or undercutting their previous positions. ...