A bombshell poll shows President Donald Trump is facing major losses on a top MAGA priority.
The latest CBS News/YouGov poll, conducted between March 17-20 among 3,335 U.S. adults, shows Trump ten points underwater on the issue of immigration, with 45 percent approving of Trump’s handling of the issue, and 55 percent disapproving.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
Immigration has historically been a winning issue for the Republicans. But since the killing of two people in Minneapolis amid Trump’s enforcement campaign, polls have told a different story.
Polls have shown Trump facing historic lows on immigration. The latest AP-NORC poll showed that around 6 in 10 Americans say Trump has hurt immigration and border security “a lot” or “a little,” up from 4 in 10 in January.
Meanwhile, a YouGov poll from this month showed that half of Americans back abolishing ICE, while the AP-NORC poll found that 73 percent have a “somewhat” or “very” unfavorable opinion of ICE.
Polls have also shown Trump losing support on the issue of immigration from key voting groups that backed him in 2024. The CBS poll showed that 61 percent of Gen Z voters disapprove of his handling of immigration, as well as 61 percent of Hispanic voters. 63 percent of independents also disapprove.
Overall, most Americans (51 percent) say they disapprove of the Trump administration’s program to find and deport immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally, according to the CBS poll.
About two-thirds of respondents said Trump has “gone too far” when it comes to deporting immigrants living in the U.S. illegally in the AP-NORC poll.
“The image that has been created is not a good thing,” Jose Arango, the Republican chair of Hudson County, New Jersey, told Politico in January. “We’re losing in the public relations campaign.”
Still, the White House has defended its record on immigration.
“President Trump campaigned on and was elected on his promise to carry out the largest mass deportation operation in history,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson previously told the Daily Beast.
“The entire Trump Administration is working to fulfill that promise despite the media’s and Democrats’ lies about ICE operations. ICE officers conduct themselves with the utmost professionalism and integrity to protect American citizens from criminal illegal aliens. It’s time for the media to start sharing the truth.”
But some Republicans still think the party has lost its way on immigration.
Earlier this month, when asked whether immigration policy continues to play to the GOP’s advantage, Sen. John Kennedy offered a stark and unambiguous answer: “No.”
