Trump voters don’t want to appease China: The White House should listen

In a recent interview with Fox News, President Donald Trump defended giving hundreds of thousands of Chinese nationals visas to study in the United States. He argued that the tuition fees from Beijing more than make up for the potential espionage risks. The president even claimed that his Republican base supported this open-door immigration policy.

“MAGA was my idea,” Trump said. “I know what MAGA wants better than anyone else.” But when it comes to China policy, Trump is perilously out of step with conservative voters.

New polling released by the Vandenberg Coalition revealed that, while Trump voters generally support his “peace through strength” approach to foreign policy, they have been disappointed by many of his moves toward China specifically. Shockingly, the polls found that “only 18 percent of Trump voters said they were most satisfied with his Indo-Pacific policy in 2025.” If Trump hopes to rally his base and save the Republican Party from a wipeout in the 2026 midterm elections, he should start by rethinking his relationship with America’s greatest adversary.

Trump voters clearly believe that the Chinese Communist Party presents the most clear and present danger to U.S. national security. According to the aforementioned poll, nearly three-quarters of the president’s supporters rated the CCP as an “extremely high” or “high” threat, outpacing both the Islamic Republic of Iran and Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

Read more at Washington Examiner.