A majority of Americans oppose President Trump’s migrant raids — as well as the early US strikes against Iran — while supporting the White House on issues such as sanctuary cities, according to a new poll.
On ICE’s immigration tactics, 54% of registered voters told an NBC survey that they oppose them, compared to 44% who came out in support.
The president is also underwater on other key issues such as foreign policy, with a 43% approval to 54% disapproval rating, and dealing with Iran, 41% to 54%, showed the poll, which sampled 1,000 registered voters between Feb. 27 and March 3, two days after the US launched its missile blitz against Iran.
Americans are unhappy with the cost of living, 36% to 62%, too.
But the registered voters said they agree with Trump’s opposition to sanctuary cities, which limit and sometimes bar local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal immigration authorities, with 43% viewing the set-up negatively compared to 33% positively.
The president also clinched a 53% approval to 44% disapproval rating on general border security, the survey said.
But some Republicans said ICE’s recent violent, sometimes deadly raids have swung the pendulum too far.
“We’ve lost the debate over immigration and deportations,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), a fierce critic of former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, to CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.
Trump fired Noem last week and tapped Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) as her replacement, recalibrating his administration’s approach to immigration enforcement and to the Department of Homeland Security more broadly.
Tillis was optimistic that his colleague, Mullin, would help get “this department under control so that Republicans can seize an issue that helped us get elected.”
Immigration and border security had been among Trump’s strongest issues heading into the 2024 presidential election.
The recent poor marks on immigration come in the aftermath of the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown in Minnesota during Operation Metro Surge.
At the height of the surge, there were more than 3,000 feds deployed to Minneapolis. The two deaths of civilian protesters Renee Good and Alex Pretti during the surge sparked widespread public outcry.
The Trump administration has since wound down its immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota.
In general, the poll also found Democrats are topping Republicans in terms of voters’ perspectives on who should take control of Congress after the 2026 midterms. Respondents preferred Democrats 50% to 44%, with 6% undecided, showed the poll, which has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
Notably, Republicans are up 2 percentage points from the last time NBC asked that question in October.
Republicans are also polling ahead of Democrats on general issues such as border security (53% to 26%), crime (47% to 25%), and immigration (46% to 34%).
Democrats are up on protecting constitutional rights (46% to 39%), safeguarding democracy (47% to 36%), and healthcare (48% to 28%).
Both parties were even on the economy at 40% apiece.
