WASHINGTON ― What happens when you get Donald Trump supporters and undocumented immigrants in a room together?
Elizabeth Jarosz, a former contestant on “The Apprentice” who has stayed mum during the campaign, wanted to find out. The result is a compelling new video series called “Behind the Glass.”
Jarosz is a marketing research expert deeply familiar with the art of running focus groups. Under pressure to weigh in on Trump, her former fake boss on the hit reality TV show, she decided to bring those skills to bear in sessions with Trump backers and opponents. While she spoke with Trump fans, immigrants watched through the one-way glass, and vice versa.
It’s an unusual use of a focus group. Typically, only a corporate client and a team of researchers are sitting on the other side of glass. “We never really let people listen to other people,” said Jarosz, who works for Ipsos, the global market research and a consulting firm, which contributed research to the project.
The discussion in the first episode, published here, revolves around patriotism, loyalty, sacrifice and love of country.
The conversation was spurred by a veteran Trump supporter asking the immigrants if they would die for the United States and serve in the military, if they were asked to do so — something many who were born in the U.S. might not agree to. The immigrants’ response surprises the Trump backers: They noted that all male undocumented immigrants are required to register for the draft. The Trump supporters are taken aback, and begin to rethink what they’ve been told about immigration.
Polls show Hillary Clinton likely to win Tuesday’s election. Even if Trump loses, the 40-plus percent of Americans who support him aren’t going away.
But Jarosz said she thinks the division may not be as deep as we think. “If we can’t listen to each other as people, how can we expect the politicians to,” she said.
Jarosz says she undertook the project because she wanted to weigh in on the election in a positive way.
Trump took a less conciliatory approach with Jarosz in Season 2 of “The Apprentice.”
“You just don’t have a lot of ― something,” he says at about the 6:50 mark of this video. “What the hell’s missing with you, Elizabeth? You’re fired.”
Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularlyincitespolitical violence and is a