New polls show that a decisive majority of voters back President Donald Trump’s migration policy amid media-magnified Democrat claims that enforcement is hurting his poll numbers.
The polls also add to the growing evidence that Trump’s immigration crackdown is helping him gain ground on his main polling problem — widespread pocketbook concerns about affordability amid the economic wreckage of President Joe Biden’s economic policies.
On Monday, for example, the White House’s communications office blasted out a series of articles showing widespread rent declines amid nationwide deportations.
Many polls show a solid majority of Americans support Trump’s immigration policies, and also that many swing-voters dislike the televised reality of street deportations amid quasi-riots by left-wing radicals.
For example, 73 percent of registered voters support deporting violent migrants, and 52 percent support deporting all illegal migrants, according to a January 28-29 poll of 2,000 registered voters by Harvard CAPS and the Harris Poll. The 52 percent support includes 49 percent of political independents.
Yet the Harvard Harris poll shows a majority of Americans also dislike how the enforcement is seen in Minneapolis. Fifty-eight percent said that ICE has been using “too much force” in Minneapolis, and 57 percent believe that ICE has “gone too far” in Minneapolis.
A New York Times poll by Siena College shows less support for deportations, but a matching discomfort with the reality of deportations. Fifty percent of respondents said they approve of the “Trump administration’s deportations of immigrants living in the United States illegally,” and just 36 percent said they approve of how ICE “is handling its job.“
That public discomfort is not good for Trump because the two most important issues for voters are immigration and affordability.
Democrats are betting their 2026 campaign on affordability, where Trump’s numbers are not good: Only 51 percent of respondents believe the economy is strong, and only 38 percent of likely voters say their personal financial situation is improving, according to Harvard-Harris.
Yet those low pocketbook numbers have been rising in Trump’s favor over the last few months as Trump’s immigration policies push up wages and workplace investment and push down rents and inflation.
Pocketbook issues are most important for the swing voters, says Kristen Soltis Anderson, a GOP-aligned pollster. She told the New York Times for a January 15 article:
As horrifying as the situation in Minnesota was, and as much as it has broken through, if you’re a Republican, persistent worries about cost of living — not immigration or even immigration enforcement — are the thing your own constituents are more likely to hold you personally responsible for fixing.
“As we heard in that focus group … a lot of Trump’s voters feel they got exactly what they were promised,” she said, adding:
At the same time, there has been a clear dip in Trump’s job approval, driven by declining confidence in his ability to handle the economy. What used to be his strong suit is now his weak spot.
Amid the pocketbook concerns, “Republicans are positioned to gain voters – not lose them – by drawing a sharp contrast on immigration,” says the third poll of 1,004 likely voters, which was conducted by Cygnal on January 27-28.
The Cygnal poll showed that 61 percent of midterm voters support the deportation of illegal migrants, 54 percent support ICE’s deportation efforts, and that 16 percent of swing voters are more likely to support the GOP if their Democrat candidate tries to stop ICE by shutting down the federal government.
That last number is a big problem for Democrats, because the leaders have been unable to stop their radical base from portraying their party as pro-migrant, anti-deportation, and anti-American.
“The electoral math is clear: immigration is a winning issue for Republicans, and a losing issue for Democrats,” Cygnal reported.
Understandably, Republicans are trying to highlight the Democrats’ radicalism:
“Voters see illegal immigration as a simple question of law and order,” said pollster Brent Buchanan, CEO and Founder of Cygnal. “The data leaves no wiggle room. Americans want the law enforced, they want illegal immigrants removed, and they punish politicians who try to block ICE from doing its job.”
But Republicans have their radicals too, including many legislators who quietly work with Democrats to amnesty their donors’ migration supply of non-criminal cheap labor, apartment-sharing renters, and government-funded consumers.
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