notwithstanding some major shift in public perceptions, any time the narrative of an election season shifts to "security" or "terrorism", the republicans will get a bump in the polls.

as it is with immigration and public debt, the facts of the matter aren't important: decades of media framing has ensured that the democrats are seen by most americans as weak on national security. obama deported record numbers of millions of people, but he couldn't overturn the framing; he didn't overturn the framing on the military, either.

if the democrats want to prevent this from harming them in the midterms, they need to find a way to change the topic, and avoid playing into the narrative by appearing obsequious to republican talking points.

personally? i think it could hurt the democrats rather drastically - or, perhaps it's merely an excuse. remember: the united states has very restricted levels of suffrage.