Immigration Polarizing Two Continents: U.S. and Germany Face Crises of Confidence

Angela Merkel

New polls reported out of Germany and America show how polarized views on immigration have
become and it’s breaking down the centers of the ruling political parties.

In America, Republican and Democratic positions have become increasingly polarized on immigration, and the presidential campaign has accelerated it.

Both parties have shifted dramatically since the 2012 election, with Republicans first wanting to reach out and offer modest support for immigration reform, but now are being represented by a presidential frontrunner advocating mass deportation.

Democrats, on the other hand, have been supportive but cautious with immigration reform and deportation in recent years, but now advocate near total conditional amnesty and advocate stopping nearly all deportations.

Syrian, other Middle Eastern and North African migration is rapidly shifting European politics toward nationalism and nativism. It has cost Angela Merkel 20 points of popularity from a sky-high 74 percent in early 2015 to 54 percent today. And her party, the Christian Democratic Union, lost voter support in recent state elections.

Fifty-nine percent of the public is dissatisfied with Merkel’s refugee policy, including more than 40 percent of her own party.

Although the conventional view is that she is not in danger of being ousted, she may be in her last term as chancellor.