Support for Deportation of Undocumented Immigrants Reaches New High

President Donald Trump’s aggressive approach to illegal immigration has generated headline after headline since he took office, picking up in recent days with his invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to expedite deportations.

But while Morning Consult surveys showed Trump polarized voters away from his immigration positions during his first term, there’s no evidence of that happening during his second stint in office, at least not yet.

To the contrary, a record-high 34% of voters say the United States should remove or deport immigrants currently living here illegally, up from 32% in November. Meanwhile, the share who believe the country should allow undocumented immigrants to stay and become citizens if they meet certain requirements dipped to an all-time low of 37%.

It’s not surprising to see that GOP voters are primarily driving the uptick in support for deportation given their tendency to reinforce Trump’s policy directions. But it’s worth highlighting that backing for wide-scale deportations has not diminished among Democrats since late last year either, though that number remains very small at 13%. (Support among independents for deportation of all undocumented immigrants in the United States ticked down slightly since November, when a record-high 32% shared that view.)

This sustained hawkish position cannot be explained by a lack of attention to immigration matters either.

Our weekly quantitative and qualitative tracking of news penetration about a range of issues has consistently shown immigration is breaking through more than other issues, including the economy. And what Americans are hearing about immigration has ranked among the most positive alongside national security — two issues where Trump remains well trusted despite declines on other issues. (Check back next week to see if this trend sticks following this week’s developments related to Trump’s top national security officials and war planning on the messaging app Signal.) 

Trump’s issue approval rating slipped a bit over the weekend, but voters remain 13 percentage points more likely to approve than disapprove of his performance on the issue (53% to 40%), similar to the 10-point advantage held by Republicans in Congress over their Democratic counterparts. 

The bottom line

The sagging of Trump’s approval ratings, both broadly and on specific economic issues, makes the stickiness of these hawkish views on illegal immigration all the more noteworthy. It suggests that businesses that rely on undocumented workers, who may have anticipated a public opinion shift in their direction, may need to consider that we have entered a new consensus on immigration. 

As we showed you in December, the public is more open to more high-skilled workers rather than those relied upon by the agricultural and hospitality industries, suggesting that the tech, engineering and medical industries have the political advantage in the coming immigration policy battles.