Donald Trump’s net approval rating for his handling of immigration has declined drastically.
According to an Echelon Insights survey of 1,014 likely voters in April, 54 percent approve of Trump’s handling of immigration, while 44 percent disapprove, giving him a net positive approval rating of 10 points, Newsweek reports.
That is a decline from the net 18 percent approval rating Trump received for his handling of immigration in March in the same poll when 57 percent of voters approved and 39 percent disapproved.
Trump’s approval ratings are taking a hit as his administration is facing legal scrutiny and growing criticism for deporting migrants to a notorious prison in El Salvador without due process.
Among the deportees is Kilmar Abrego Garcia who was living in Maryland with his wife, an American citizen, and their children for years until he was detained by ICE in March over his alleged affiliation with the gang MS-13.
The Trump administration has presented no evidence to support their claim that Abrego Garcia is a member of MS-13 and even admitted in court that they deported him to a notorious Salvadoran prison due to an “administrative error.”
The Trump administration continues to defy a U.S. Supreme Court ruling calling on the administration to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return.
Though the polls show that a majority of voters still support Trump’s immigration plans, Peter Hamby, contributing writer for Puck News, which partners with Echelon Insights for its monthly polling, argued that is because most voters are not paying attention to the details of those plans which could be because immigration is no longer a top concern for voters.
In April’s poll, the top issue for voters was cost of living (23%), jobs and the economy (15%), political corruption (13%) and immigration placed fourth with (12%)
“Immigration is the only remaining issue where Trump has credibility with the American voter,” Hamby wrote. “Those voters probably aren’t reading SCOTUSblog or following the legal intricacies of the Garcia case, but Trump knows that the public generally has his back on questions of who gets to be in the United States and who doesn’t.”
“The problem for Trump is that since the election, immigration has fallen down the voting public’s list of concerns, while anxieties about the economy and prices have only grown louder, with chatter about a possible recession becoming routine,” he continued. “The numbers are showing that while Trump might be trying to change the subject—to illegal immigrants or Harvard or NPR—economically anxious voters aren’t interested in the sideshow.”
