How Arizona Latinos rate Biden and Trump on the border: From the Politics Desk

Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the campaign trail, the White House and Capitol Hill.

In today’s edition, national political reporter Ben Kamisar breaks down our latest focus group with Arizona Latino voters who are down on Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Plus, senior political reporter Jonathan Allen looks at the message Nikki Haley is sending Trump after she said she would vote for him.

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How Arizona Latino voters rate Biden and Trump on the border

By Ben Kamisar

A new focus group of Latino voters in Arizona illustrated why the border has become such a political mess for President Joe Biden.

Former President Donald Trump’s tough talk on immigration and the actions he took while in office did not come close to winning unilateral praise from the dozen participants in our latest NBC News Deciders Focus Group series, produced in collaboration with Engagious, Syracuse University and Sago.

The focus group specifically recruited participants who had soured on both Biden and Trump, an important swing cohort in a critical battleground state.

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But from their vantage point, many saw clarity on the issue from Trump compared to a struggle by Biden to control immigration. One participant called Biden’s border policies a “hot mess.”

“Even if we disagree with the way Trump went about specific things with his border control, he did something, at least, about it,” said Melissa G., 43, of Phoenix, who’d back Robert F. Kennedy Jr. if given the chance or Trump if not.

The RFK Jr. factor: Overall, the focus group