Shocking new poll results show that US President Donald Trump‘s immigration crackdown, including the ongoing mass deportation campaign in the country, is not favoured by a majority of Americans. Latest figures released as part of a new Reuters/Ipsos poll indicated that public approval of the POTUS’ policies on this front fell to the lowest mark since his return to the White House for a second presidential term in January 2025.
Closing on Monday, the four-day poll by Reuters/Ipsos showed that just 38% of respondents said that he is doing a good job on the immigration front. The Trump administration’s efforts in this arena reflect the big promises about the biggest deportation drive the MAGA leader made while campaigning ahead of his re-election in 2024.
These slipping approval ratings are making headlines amid the rising vitriol against violent deportation raids and controversial shootings in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The current backlash against Homeland Security’s branches – Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) – has particularly been fuelled by the two deadly shootings that claimed the lives of Minnesota residents Nicole Good and Alex Pretti in the same month.
Trump immigration approval ratings tank: Poll
The latest February poll conducted online and nationwide gained responses from 1,117 US adults and had a margin of error of 3% points. Although the drop from last month’s results wasn’t as significant, a pattern developing over the past few months shows that the figures have either remained rather consistent or dropped a point or two, but haven’t necessarily grown in comparison.
In the February survey, approval hit new lows with just 38% being in favour of Trump’s immigration policies. It was down 1% from January’s 39%. The same Reuters/Ipsos poll has seen numbers go as high as 50% in the months shortly after the Trump admin 2.0 era began.
Men vs women: Who supports Trump’s immigration plan more?
Support for Trump’s handling of immigration particularly dropped among US male voters, a group that played a huge role in the Republican leader’s election victory in 2024. While throughout 2025 men’s approval rating on this front has remained close to 50%, the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll showed the number dropping to 41%.
On the flip side, only 35% of America women support him on immigration, as opposed to the figure mostly staying around 40% in 2025.
All in all, Trump also witnessed the lowest levels of approval in terms of his overall ratings in recent weeks. The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll showed only 38% of respondents approved of his performance, as opposed to him starting the second term with his overall approval at 47%.
Second poll says over 60% against Trump’s use of federal forces
Yet another recent poll conducted February 5-8, 2026, using the AmeriSpeak Panel, the probability-based panel of NORC at the University of Chicago, indicated that 62% respondents think Trump’s deployment of federal immigration agents into US cities has gone too far. 61% said the same about the use of federal law enforcement at protests.
As per APNorc.Org, the survey relying on online responses and telephone interviews is based on answers shared by 1,156 adults and has an overall margin of sampling error of +/- 3.9 percentage points.
It further showed that 60% view ICE unfavourably, marking a major increase from 2018 when just 37% held an unfavourable view about the federal agency. This is also attributed to the surge in the public’s familiarity with the department, which, in turn, is a direct consequence of the recurrent ICE raids in US cities.
On top of that, 54% said that Trump has gone too far in restricting legal immigration. As per APNorc.Org, 52% also asserted that the president has gone too far in his efforts to deport immigrants living in the US illegally.
Another poll shows similar views on Trump’s immigration agenda
A third survey by NBC News Decision Desk Poll relying on 21,995 adults’ responses online from January 27 to February 6 (with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points) also showed people losing confidence in Trump’s top issue.
The numbers (recorded after Pretti’s and Good’s deaths) revealed that 49% of adults strongly disapprove of Trump’s handling of border security and immigration, marking a surge from 38% strong disapproval last summer and 34% in April.
“Fully 60% of those surveyed in the week after the death of Alex Pretti in Minnesota somewhat or strongly disapproved of Trump’s actions on border security and immigration,” stated NBC News. “Another 40% approved of Trump on the issue, including 27% who strongly approved and 13% who somewhat approved.”
63% said the federal government has gone too far in disregarding local and state governments, as opposed to 37% who said state and local governments have gone too far in disregarding federal authority.
A firm majority of 63% said they disapprove of immigration agents wearing masks. “58% disagreed when they were asked whether regular, law-abiding citizens had “nothing to fear” from immigration agents,” added the NBC report.