More than half of Americans say Trump immigration agenda ‘too aggressive’: Survey

A new poll shows that more than half of Americans say they think President Trump’s immigration agenda is “too aggressive.”

Politico’s poll released on Saturday found that 51 percent of Americans hold this view, with 26 percent saying they think his immigration agenda is “about right” and 11 percent saying it’s “not aggressive enough.”

The first result is a 2-point increase from answers given to the same question in January. The number of those who said it was “about right” dropped 4 percentage points, while the percentage of those who said it’s “not aggressive enough” remained the same.

A quarter of Trump voters told Politico that they think his immigration policies are “too aggressive,” an increase from the 21 percent who said the same in January. There was also an increase among voters for former Vice President Kamala Harris, from 77 percent in January to 80 percent as of April.

Most self-identified MAGA voters told Politico they think Trump’s deportations are “about right” and “not aggressive enough,” at 54 percent and 28 percent, respectively. Only 15 percent said the deportations are “too aggressive.”

Fewer non-MAGA voters said they think the deportations are “too aggressive,” at 38 percent, compared to the 42 percent who said they are “about right.” Sixteen percent said the deportations are “not aggressive enough.”

Fifty-one percent said they think the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers makes cities more dangerous, according to the poll.

Support for Trump’s deployment of ICE officers in Democratic-run cities across the country, including in Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland and Minneapolis, have remained low since the start of the year. Reuters/Ipsos found in February that 38 percent approved of his deportation agenda after previously peaking at 50 percent in March 2025.

Also in February, The Washington Post, ABC News and Ipsos released a joint survey that showed 58 percent of respondents think his deportation agenda went too far.

Polling in February came on the heels of clashes between Minnesota residents and ICE during the agency’s crackdown on migrants living in the state. Separate incidents in Minneapolis during these operations further spurned outrage after two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were killed by federal immigration enforcement officers.

Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem accused Good and Pretti of “domestic terrorism.” This further angered anti-ICE protesters and led Americans to take to the streets in cities nationwide and call for the mass deportations to end.

Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill called for widespread reforms to ICE’s parent department, the Department of Homeland Security. Democrats blocked measures to fund the department, causing a partial shutdown. Lawmakers have still not reached an agreement to fund the department, nor have they reached a compromise on how to address ICE going forward.

The Politico survey was conducted April 11-14 and included 2,035 respondents. The margin of error is 2.17 percentage points.

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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