Polls show falling US support for Trump's deportations

Straits Times

20-07-2025

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More than half of Americans polled by CBS News found that US President Donald Trump's administration was targeting migrants who do not threaten public safety.
Polls released on July 20 showed falling support among Americans for US President Donald Trump's hardline measures against illegal immigration, as the Republican president celebrated six months back in power.
Mr Trump won last year's election in part with promises to
launch a historic deportation drive , riling up his base with exaggerated claims of mass violence committed by undocumented migrants, whom he referred to as 'savages' and 'animals.'
Polls from both CNN and CBS show that he has lost majority support for his deportation approach.
55 per cent of respondents feel the raids – frequently seen online in viral videos of masked, unidentified agents seizing people off the street – have gone too far, CNN said.
This was up 10 per cent from a similar poll in February, shortly after Mr Trump took office.
A majority – 57 per cent – said they oppose plans for construction of mass detention facilities, with only 26 pe cent supporting the idea, CNN said.
A CBS News poll found that 56 per cent of Americans believe Mr Trump's administration is targeting migrants who do not represent a threat to public safety, up from 47 per cent last month.
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According to the poll, only 49 per cent of Americans approve of Mr Trump's immigration policies, down from 54 per cent last month and 59 per cent in February.
Support remains nearly universal among Republicans, however, with 91 per cent in favor of the deportations.
Opposition among independents is nonetheless at 59 per cent and among Democrats at 86 per cent.
Mr Trump marked the six-month mark of his second presidency by heading out to his golf club in Virginia, near Washington, and posting on social media that the period was 'being hailed as one of the most consequential periods of any President.'
'Six months is not a long time to have totally revived a major Country,' he wrote on Truth Social.
'One year ago our Country was DEAD, with almost no hope of revival,' he said, adding that now the US was the 'most respected Country anywhere in the World.'
In keeping with other surveys, the CBS News poll found Mr Trump's overall approval rating is underwater. Currently only 42 per cent of Americans approve of his job, compared to 53 per cent in February. AFP