The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll shows just under half of U.S. adults approve of Trump’s handling of immigration, which is nearly 10 percentage points higher than his approval rating on the economy and foreign trade.
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.
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.