When Donald Trump started his militarily organized raid in Los Angeles, the president and many of his advisors were convinced that the use of troops on the streets of a large American city was politically advantageous for them. Three people familiar with the matter report that they were convinced that immigration was one of Trump’s strongest topics, helped him to get back to the White House, and that his mass deportation program had cut off well in surveys since the 2024 election campaign.
Despite resistance to Trump’s (presumably illegal) troops by Democrats, Media and demonstrators saw this measure in the White House as a success and blueprint for further missions. “If things go well in LA, you can expect it everywhere,” said a government official to the planned expansion of militarized raids by ICE nationwide. (This official and three other sources spoke on internal discussions on the condition of anonymity.)
Survey slump despite militarization
However, just a few days after the sending of national guards and Marines to suppress anti-Ice protests in LA, new surveys point out that Trump’s current deportation measures and his decision to use the military against domestic opponents do not increase its approval values.
On the contrary: Trump’s latest power grip lets his numbers crash.
Trump’s basic platform for a federal resignation in immigration policy was well received before the election and at the beginning of his second term; Surveys of 2024 showed majority approval of his demands for large -scale deportations of undocumented migrants. (However, this consent decreased when concrete methods were queried.) In April of last year-much to the shock of democratic campaigners and Bidens team-a Harris survey showed that 42 percent of the Democrats could warm up for this idea.
Trend reversal in opinion polls
According to an analysis by data journalist G. Elliott Morris, Trump took office with a strong positive assessment when immigration. But this value reached its peak in February with +11.3 percent. Now Morris’ surge average has been showing a negative approval value for Trump’s immigration policy for the second time since April.
A current YouGov survey shows that 47 percent of American adult Trump’s command of sending Marines to LA reject-only 34 percent support him. 45 percent also displeased the use of the national guard, only 38 percent support this.
These results correspond to a Quinnipiac survey on Wednesday, which showed that 54 percent reject Trump’s handling of immigration-56 percent specifically disapproved of his deportation policy. (For comparison: In April, according to Quinnipiac, the rejection was still 50 percent.) An AP/NORC survey on Thursday also shows 53 percent rejection of Trump’s immigration policy-46 percent votes. A Washington Post text survey and the George Mason University’s Scoral School showed: Trump’s immigration and deportation policy is “negatively evaluated by 15 percentage points- 52 percent to 37 percent”.
A Reuters/Ipsos survey, also published on Thursday, illustrates the discrepancy: 48 percent theoretically agree to the fact that the president “should use the military to restore order on the streets”, but only 38 percent support how Trump is in La.
Escalation in Los Angeles intensified rejection
This trend is likely to worsen as long as the government in LA continues. On Thursday-during a press conference in which Minister of Homeland Protection Kristi Noem said that her ministry would remain in Los Angeles to “free the city from the socialist and stressful leadership of the Democrats”-Senator Alex Padilla (D-California) was brought to the ground and asked in handcuffs when he wanted to ask her.
A video of Padilla’s arrest quickly spread on social networks. After his release without charges, the Senator told reporters: “If this is the handling of the DHS with a senator who asks a question, you can only imagine what they do with field workers, chefs and day laborers in the community of La and all of California.”
Undifferentiated raids damage the public perception
The pictures and reports of young people, pregnant women and workers who are hunted and arrested by ICE confirm what surveys have shown for a long time: Americans basically believe that undocumented migrants should be deported with criminal offenses – however, they reject indiscriminately raids that do not take into account individual circumstances.
A ray of hope for Trump and the Republicans in all of these numbers: The Democrats in the congress are also extremely unpopular, which is mainly dissatisfied in their own electorate.
Criticism of Trump’s communication and implementation
“The public supports the security of America and is against illegal immigration. The problem is the implementation,” says Frank Luntz, a long-standing opinion researcher and conservative Trump critic. The government has a concern that many Americans shared. But implementation and communication is catastrophic. “The voters want immigration laws to be enforced,” said Luntz. “But they don’t want to beaten senators at press conferences.” That is exactly the problem since Trump’s first term. “They think they are on the right path. But the current implementation speaks against it.”
Even Trump seems to fluctuate publicly on the topic. On Thursday he wrote: “All” Undocumented people “have to go home.” But before that he had posted Truth Social that “farmers and people from the hotel and leisure industry say that our very aggressive immigration policy takes good, longstanding workers. This is not good,” says Trump. “We have to protect our farmers. But the criminals have to get out of the USA. Changes come!”
Trump’s line remains tough – despite criticism
For the time being, the Trump government continues to drive its vision of a very American police state. “In November, the Americans clearly rejected the immigration vision of the Democrats – open borders and millions of unchecked illegal immigrants. And President Trump’s vision – deportations and enforcement of immigration law – confirmed to Rolling Stone. “President Trump keeps his promise to the American people. And violent left -wing rioters will not stop him.”
Curcilation criticism from Trump’s warehouse
When asked about the latest negative surveys, Trump’s top opinion researcher John McLaughlin only replied: “You mean the fake surveys?”
He refers to internal numbers and conservative-soned surveys. “Yesterday we carried out a national survey for Club for Growth among 1,000 probable voters. Trump’s approval was 53-44. Today’s Rasmussen survey is 53-45,” said McLaughlin.