I’ve been somewhat depressed by the idea that a majority of Americans support Trump immigration policy, as reflected in nearly all the polling. In fact, the way it appears, they like it so much that it’s what’s keeping his approval rating from completely cratering. Well, G. Elliot Morris, former polling analyst from the Economist and 538 says it’s just not true. When asked the vague question “do you support Trump’s immigration policy” people may say yes, but they do not like the specifics:
[T]he details of the policy Trump is carrying out are even more removed from the polling — even more unpopular, reflecting deep reservations among the public about what the president is doing.
For example, when various pollsters asked if they would support deporting immigrants who have been here more than 10 years (as in the case of Abrego Garcia), U.S. adults said “no” by a 37 percentage point margin; Americans disapprove of deporting immigrants who have broken no laws other than laws governing entry; they oppose deporting U.S. citizens convicted of crimes to foreign jails, such as CECOT, and they oppose housing migrants at Guantanamo Bay while they are processed. All of these are policies the Trump administration has now floated or is actively carrying out.
Morris writes:
Donald Trump has made a series of missteps over the last couple of weeks. Voters are now souring on him on the economy and inflation, for example, and his tariffs are deeply unpopular, too. You can add Monday’s Oval Office meeting to this list.
The media narrative is that “Trump is popular on immigration.” But as we can see, that is not really true. On the specifics of his policy, and especially on the on-the-ground implementation, Americans are mostly opposed to what his administration is doing. (And the data above should probably be considered an overestimate, since the polls I’ve used are old and conducted before the Abrego Garcia news.)
This has to penetrate the national consciousness enough that people stop giving Trump any benefit of the doubt on immigration. He’s a monster and apparently it’s actually a minority that wants him to ignore court orders and send people to gulags in foreign countries after all. They need to know that’s exactly what he’s doing and his overall approval rating must reflect that. He probably doesn’t care — he’ll lie and say he’s actually got a 70% approval rating “in the good polls” —but other Republicans do.