Last month in an internet ad run by his campaign during the shutdown President Trump said: ‘I want to be able to show Senate Democrats a list of the many American voters that will NOT be happy if the Wall isn’t built. I need YOUR NAME on the list. Sign our official petition to the Senate now!’

Trump’s campaign manager, Brad Parscale, explained the logic behind the ad this way: ‘If you look at the people who are kind of these swing voters, who possibly may not like him for personality or other reasons, the number one reason they will vote for him is because of his stance on border security.’

Was Parscale right? Does the Wall help Trump with swing voters?

It seems the generation of young men and women who’ve learned politics on the internet measure the popularity of an issue (like the Wall) by ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ and ‘clicks.’ No doubt lots of Trumpsters clicked on Trump’s ad. But did it budge the Senate? No. Did Trump’s approval rating rise with swing voters? No, they dropped. So, what went wrong? Don’t swing voters support border security? Yes, they do. But clicks don’t tell the whole story.

When President Trump attacks Pelosi about The Wall swing voters see Trump – not border security. And they turn thumbs down on the Wall because they don’t like Trump. Until that changes there’s not much chance Nancy Pelosi will stop saying No.