President Trump’s approval ratings on immigration have dropped to a record low, according to a new poll.
The Reuters/Ipsos survey results come during the Trump administration’s massive immigration crackdown operations in Minnesota, where tensions have risen to a boiling point after federal agents shot and killed two people and wounded another man.
Only 39 percent of respondents in the Monday survey said they approved of Trump’s immigration policies, and 53 percent said they disapproved.
While this is the lowest approval rating yet for the president on this issue, it follows a recent downward trend in polling on the topic.
In a Reuters/Ipsos survey conducted earlier this month, 40 percent of respondents said they approved and 52 percent disapproved of his administration’s immigration policies. In the president’s first administration, his lowest approval rating on immigration was also 40 percent.
The Biden administration’s worst approval rating on this issue was 26 percent. The former president hit this record twice, in May 2023 and December 2024.
Trump made immigration a central component of his presidential campaigns, promising to crack down on illegal immigration into the U.S.
However, immigration officers’ tactics in Minnesota — and the latest crackdown in Maine — have raised eyebrows from some Republicans lawmakers, not to mention drawn intense backlash from congressional Democrats.
Following the second fatal shooting of a Minnesota resident by federal officials, Senate Homeland Security Committee Chair Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Monday requested testimony from the leaders of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Patrol and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in letters to each agency.
Additionally, Democratic senators said they will not support a crucial funding package that allocates money to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including $10 billion more to ICE.
On Monday, Republicans shot down a request from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to remove the provisions related to DHS. This process would have involved calling back the House into session to vote on the amended package.
If the Senate does not pass the funding package by the deadline this Friday, the government will partially shut down.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) said in posts on the social platform X on Monday that he spoke with the president who “agreed the present situation can’t continue.” Minneapolis has been the site of both fatal shootings and mass protests against federal law enforcement’s operations in the state.
Frey said federal agents will begin “leaving the area” on Tuesday and that he will meet with Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, on the same day.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll gathered responses from 1,139 Americans from Jan. 23-25 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
