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President Donald Trump's aggressive campaign to deport immigrants could weigh on his Republican Party in November's midterm congressional elections, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.
Some 52 per cent of Americans in the six-day poll completed on Monday said they were less likely to support a candidate who backs Trump's approach to deportations, significantly more than the 42 per cent who said they were more likely to support such a candidate.
The disadvantage for Trump allies was more stark among people who don't identify with either major political party, with 57 per cent of independents saying they prefer a candidate who opposes Trump's deportations and 32 per cent preferring candidates who support Trump on the issue.
Republicans could face an uphill battle to defend their majorities in both chambers of Congress in November's midterm elections, with the party already under pressure over a surge in gasoline prices as a result of the US-Israeli war with Iran. Republican lawmakers have almost universally backed Trump's hardline approach on immigration, reflecting the president's growing dominance over the party since winning the 2024 election on a promise to crack down on unauthorized immigrants.
Trump's immigration policy was initially supported by a fairly broad slice of America, with 50 per cent of the country approving of his performance on the issue in Reuters/Ipsos polls from the weeks after his January 2025 inauguration. But after more than a year of aggressive enforcement measures - including the deployment of masked federal agents nationwide and the deaths of two US citizens caught up in the crackdown - only 40 per cent of respondents in the latest poll approved of Trump's performance on the issue.
The poll, which was conducted online, gathered responses from 4,557 US adults nationwide and had a margin of error of 2 percentage points.
ARRESTS DECLINE FROM DECEMBER HIGHS
Trump's deportation drive may have made a lasting impression on Americans, said Sarah Pierce, director of social policy for the center-left organization Third Way.
"People were being pulled out of cars, a priest shot with pepper balls, and Americans killed before our eyes," said Pierce, citing scenes from city streets in Los Angeles, Chicago and Minneapolis during Trump's first year in office. "I don't think those images are going to go away anytime soon."
The Trump administration in recent weeks has appeared to dial back its detentions of immigrants within the country. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested just over 1,000 people a day in early March, down from close to 1,300 per day in December but still more than double the daily arrests reported in January 2025, according to ICE figures obtained by the Deportation Data Project and analyzed by Reuters.
Only one in four respondents in the poll said they would describe current efforts to detain immigrants as less aggressive than a month ago, but 70 per cent said a less aggressive approach would be a positive change.
Americans generally support policies that stop people from entering the country illegally, with 84 per cent saying it's at least somewhat important to have secure borders and 87 per cent saying it's important to enforce immigration laws.
But Americans also support giving many migrants living in the US illegally a way to stay in the country. Some 76 per cent of respondents in the poll said unauthorized migrants who have jobs and no criminal record should have a way to gain legal status.
Some Republicans in Congress have urged a less aggressive stance on deportations.
Representative Maria Elvira Salazar, a Republican representing a South Florida district that has many Hispanic voters with relatives who are recent immigrants, has been promoting legislation in recent weeks that would give legal status to certain immigrants in the US illegally. Republican hardliners have criticized the bill but Salazar has argued that it "respects Trump's agenda" by securing the border.
"I'm very concerned about what's happening within the party with immigration," Salazar said earlier this month on Fox News' "Brian Kilmeade Show" regarding hardliners within her party.