WASHINGTON (The Pak Global Pakistan) – Public approval of US President Donald Trump’s immigration policy has dropped to its lowest point since his return to the White House, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, with a clear majority of Americans saying the government’s crackdown has gone too far.
The nationwide poll, conducted from Friday to Sunday, showed that only 39% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of immigration, while 53% disapprove. Approval has slipped from 41% earlier this month and is sharply down from February, when half of Americans backed his approach.
The survey was carried out before and after a deadly incident in Minneapolis on Saturday, where immigration officers shot and killed a second US citizen during clashes with protesters opposing the deployment of federal immigration agents in major cities.
President Trump returned to office after winning the 2024 presidential election on promises of a historic increase in deportations. Since then, masked immigration officers, often wearing military-style tactical gear, have become a common sight across the US, triggering protests in several cities.
In Minneapolis, immigration officials said 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti assaulted officers during a protest before being shot dead. However, videos recorded by bystanders appear to contradict the official version of events. Weeks earlier, another US citizen, Renee Good, also aged 37, was killed during an immigration raid in the same city.
Majority Say ICE Has Gone Too Far
According to the poll, 58% of respondents said US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have gone “too far” in their enforcement actions. Only 12% felt the crackdown had not gone far enough, while 26% said it was “about right.”
The divide is sharply partisan: nearly nine in 10 Democrats said ICE has gone too far, compared with two in 10 Republicans and six in 10 independents.
Viral videos of violent clashes have also unsettled Republican lawmakers, many of whom are already facing voter frustration over rising prices ahead of the November midterm elections, when control of Congress and most state governorships will be contested.
In a significant political development, Chris Madel, a leading Republican candidate in Minnesota’s gubernatorial race, withdrew from the contest on Monday, saying the immigration crackdown had gone too far and made a Republican victory unlikely.
Trump initially blamed Democrats for the shooting deaths but struck a more conciliatory tone on Monday, saying he was “on a similar wavelength” with Minnesota’s Democratic Governor Tim Walz, adding that the two had a “very good call.”
Overall Approval Also Slips
The same Reuters/Ipsos poll found Trump’s overall approval rating falling to 38%, tying the lowest level of his current term and down from 41% in mid-January.
Despite the decline, Trump still performs better on immigration than his predecessor, former Democratic President Joe Biden. The poll showed 37% of Americans trust Republicans more on immigration, compared to 32% who favor Democrats, while the rest were undecided or said neither party had the better approach.
The online poll surveyed 1,139 US adults nationwide and has a margin of error of approximately ±3 percentage points.