Fast Takes: GOP still wins on immigration, the meaning of NY diploma and other commentary

“The general consensus in America is against illegal immigration — making it perhaps the most popular issue available to Republicans seeking to avoid midterm losses in November,” notes Paul du Quenoy at Chronicles.Per a new Harvard/Harris poll, it “remains Trump’s leading issue, with 49 percent of respondents expressing approval of his immigration policies.” And “when Trump is removed from the polling data,” the issue looks “even better for Republicans”: Some 80% of Americans back deporting illegals who commit other crimes, while 56% back deporting all illegals.

“This remarkable consistency in public attitudes had persisted despite nearly a year and half of media sob stories”; for Republicans hoping to retain control of Congress, “illegal immigration is, in at least some respects, the 80-20 issue they need.”Starting in 2027, “New York will no longer require passing Regents exams to graduate” high school, lament City Journal’s Jennifer Weber and Ray Domanico.The big question: “What does a New York State high school diploma tell us about a student’s knowledge and capabilities?” Alas, no real answer has come from the state.

It might look to the “New York Performance Standards Consortium,” a group of high schools that’s used a different curriculum than the Regents for years, one that demands real work across literature, mathematics and more, with standards meaning “the same thing in every building.” But even a “graduation standard by itself does nothing”: “Qualities such as ‘critical thinker’ or ‘effective communicator’ mean little until the state identifies the academic tasks through which a student must demonstrate it.”“Young urban progressives in the U.S.” who’ve grown “disenchanted with the flaccid Democratic” mainstream “seek to stage a socialist revolution with the goal of taking over the Democratic Party,” scoffs The Wall Street Journal’s Allysia Finley.Recent victories in Dem pr...