Trump's Trials - A look at public opinion polling on Trump's immigration policies and how it's changed

Episode Date: June 12, 2025

NPR takes a look at where President Trump stands when it comes to public opinion polling on immigration and how that has shifted over time.Support NPR and hear every episode of Trump's Terms sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

I'm Scott Detro and this is Trump's Terms from NPR. We're going to be doing all sorts of things nobody ever thought was even possible. President Trump has brought back strength to the White House. We can't just ignore the president's desires. This will be an entirely different country in a short period of time. Every episode we bring you one of NPR's latest stories about the 47th president and how he is trying to remake the federal government. Today's story starts right after this.

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wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, it's Terry Gross, host of Fresh Air. Hey, take a break from the 24-hour news cycle with us and listen to long-form interviews with your favorite authors, actors, filmmakers, comedians and musicians, the people making the art that nourishes us and speaks to our times. So listen to the Fresh Air podcast from NPR and WHYY. I'm Michelle Martin. For more on public opinion about immigration and politics, we're going to turn to NPR senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro. Domenico, good morning. Domenico Montanaro Hey, Michelle. Michelle Pesce So where does the polling stand on this and

how has it changed over time? Domenico Montanaro Well, whether or not people think immigration should increase or decrease, you know, tends to depend on the number of immigrants who cross the border illegally. You know, what I mean by this is that Gallup has been polling for decades about this sentiment and found last year for example that in its latest survey with this question in it that 55% of people wanted immigration to decrease. That's the highest it's been since 2001 and that was a very different political moment just after 9-11 but it was also the last time encounters at the

southern border were as high as they were in the last couple of years. So President Trump has certainly made immigration a key part of his message. I mean, that's, you know, since his first run for the presidency. But how do people view how he is handling it now? Well, we've gotten some conflicting messages from poll respondents on this across various surveys. For example, just this week, a CBS poll found 54% approved of his deportation policies. But just yesterday, a Quinnipiac poll showed 56% disapprove. What that tells us for people who watch politics closely is that there's volatility in the numbers and

that means a certain percentage of people are open to being swayed. And that's when circumstances and political messaging here are really important. Okay. What kinds of circumstances? Well, Trump certainly is at risk of going too far, you know, just because overall people say that they're in favor of deporting those without permanent legal status. There's a difference between the kinds of hardened criminals that the administration said it would focus on and those who are hardworking members of communities and construction or restaurants or elsewhere.

We've seen some pushback from within the president's own party even warning that it should be cautious in how far they go. But cultural hardliners in the White House like Stephen Miller disagree. They have the president's ear and they're going to focus on any violence as a result of the protests and try and make that the focus. And what about how the Democrats talk about this? What are you hearing about how they should be responding? Well Democrats had really been having trouble finding their sea legs in talking about immigration. Trump focused on immigration during the campaign.

Democrats lost. And some of them have shied away from making a strong case in favor of immigration. But in this moment, there seems to be some early signs of coalescing about how Democrats should talk about this. Joel Payne is a Democratic strategist. He says that he's starting to see some Democrats talk about it in a way that he thinks is politically palatable. The American people, I think, want a Democratic party that understands the value of managing the border, but also does not abandon the value of supporting and

uplifting immigrant communities. Shoykot Chakrabarti is a former chief of staff to Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. He is running for Congress in San Francisco against former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He thinks in general that Democrats have to fight harder on most things, but on immigration, he said he thinks that the party and people like California Governor Gavin Newsom are striking the right tone. I don't think anybody in the country sees a woman, you know, mom getting picked up from a school pickup line by masked agents and unmarked vans and think, oh yeah, that's what

I voted for. That's what I want. That's humane. I don't think that matters if you're progressive, moderate, or Republican. I think that's just basic common sense about where we want the country to be. You know, with the deportation policy shift toward workplaces, the narrative from Republicans is changing from one about border security

to targeting criminals, which pulls very well to something very different. And the further Trump goes, Democrats feel like the easier it is for them to have a message and appear to be united on this. That is NPR's Domenico Montanaro. Domenico, thank you. You're welcome. Before we wrap up, a reminder, you can find more coverage of the Trump administration

on the NPR Politics Podcast, where you can hear NPR's political reporters break down the day's biggest political news with new episodes every weekday afternoon. And thanks, as always, to our NPR Plus supporters who hear every episode of the show without sponsored messages. You can learn more at plus.npr.org. I'm Scott Detro. Thanks for listening to Trump's terms from NPR. Congress is considering a rescissions package from the White House that would claw back more than $1 billion of public media funding.

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