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Hey, good morning. I'm Playbook co-author Rachel Bade. It's Thursday, December 14th.

In recent weeks, the Biden White House's justification for engaging in U.S.-Mexico border negotiations

with Republicans in return for a tranche of new Ukraine aid, has sounded something like this.

Democracy and our national security is at stake here. Stopping Russia now means avoiding an

escalation with Moscow, possibly another world war. But there's a simpler, albeit more callous

reason. The politics are good for President Joe Biden.

At least, that's the central finding in a recent poll commissioned by Blueprint.

That's a new public opinion research firm aimed at delivering tough talk to Democrats

in order to secure Biden's reelection.

The study was shared with Playbook exclusively last night, and the results find that, number one,

voters align more with Donald Trump than Biden on matters of immigration, asylum, and the border.

That more than half of respondents said they want the U.S. to reduce the number of refugees

and asylum seekers it takes in.

And then a majority of voters prefer a deal that ties foreign aid with stricter border

security than one that doesn't address the border at all. The group's head pollster, Evan Roth

Smith, sent us a statement saying that the current Ukraine and Israel aid negotiations offer Biden

an opportunity to positively realign voter perceptions of his immigration policy.

Such a deal, he says, will reach voters that Democrats need to win elections, and Biden would

disappoint far more of them with inaction than he'd alienate through a well-structured deal on

border and foreign aid. Now, this advice to hug the center at the expense of the base has

proven fruitful for Democratic presidents in the past. Party elders still recall how President

...