1d ago

Many Americans say Trump has gone too far on immigration but remains his strongest issue, AP-NORC poll finds

www.pbs.org

Similar to an AP-NORC poll conducted in March, nearly half of Americans approve of Trump’s immigration approach, while about 4 in 10 approve of how he’s handling the presidency.
This higher approval on immigration comes primarily from Republicans. About 8 in 10 Republicans approve of Trump’s handling of immigration, higher than the roughly 7 in 10 Republicans who approve of how he’s handling the economy or trade negotiations with other countries.
Other groups are less enthusiastic about Trump’s approach. About 4 in 10 independents and only about 2 in 10 Democrats approve of Trump on immigration.

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20250426151010/https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/many-americans-say-trump-has-gone-too-far-on-immigration-but-remains-his-strongest-issue-ap-norc-poll-finds

Full poll available at https://apnorc.org/projects/immigration-remains-one-of-trumps-strongest-issues/ (arc)

Related graph from that poll -

5 comments

I don't trust any of these polls.
- Id trust it more if they had said the 15% of Republicans that disprove of his immigration policy said that because they think he hasnt gone far enough
- That tracks with polls I've seen showing low approval rates for the media

It makes sense. The damage Trump does to the the economy will be felt by everyone, and even right wing media struggles to defend the tariffs.
In contrast, immigration as a political issue has always been about hype and narratives more than reality. The anti-immigration argument is mostly fighting an imaginary problem. As such, the effectiveness of the policies are irrelevant, they need only to claim that things are getting better and their supporters will believe them.
I would be much more interested in knowing what people think about the specifics of Trump's immigration policies. How many people support deporting us citizens, suppressing free speech, violating due process, etc. I would bet that those numbers would look very different.

his strongest issue emanates from behind