A woman is dead in Minnesota. An ICE officer killed her. Those two facts are undisputed. 

Everything else has become a Rorschach test for American politics. 

Within hours of the incident, the narrative crystallized: federal agents had become death squads hunting immigrants.  

Protests erupted. Politicians demanded accountability. Mainstream news ran wall-to-wall coverage of a deportation regime “gone too far.” 

But here’s the question nobody’s asking: If the video evidence shows a woman repeatedly breaking the law before being shot, why hasn’t the story changed? Why did public perception form in minutes and calcify into certainty, impervious to new information? 

The answer reveals something far more troubling than one tragic incident. It exposes the machinery of how Americans now form opinions and why we can no longer agree on basic facts. 

The Numbers Don’t Match What They’re Telling You 

Let me walk you through what Cygnal’s polling actually shows, because it contradicts nearly everything you’ve heard. 

In July 2025, we found 61% of voters supported deportation efforts. But 48% opposed using ICE raids as the mechanism, with 50% in support. That’s a statistical tie, not a complete lopsided opposition like the mainstream narrative has been pumping. 

Fast forward to last week. Our latest poll showed 50% believed Trump’s deportation efforts were going “too far.” 

Headlines screamed about massive opposition to ICE tactics. Pundits proclaimed a turning point. 

But look at the actual numbers: 48% opposition in July. 50% “too far” in January. That’s a two-point movement over six months, well within any poll’s margin of error. In polling terms, that’s noise, not a signal. 

More importantly, this January poll was conducted immediately after an ICE officer killed a woman who had broken multiple laws and attempted to harm him. If there were ever a moment when opposition might spike dramatically, that was it. And the needle barely moved. 

So, where’s all this “growing opposition” coming from? 

The composition of who opposes tells the story: 91% of liberals say Trump’s deportation efforts go too far. Ninety-one percent. 

Now ask yourself: What ideology dominates mainstream newsrooms? What worldview shapes editorial decisions at major networks and newspapers? 

When 91% of one ideological group believes something, and that group overwhelmingly........

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