Immigration was a flashpoint going into the 2024 presidential election, and it remains President Donald Trump‘s strongest issue in a recent poll.
A NBC News Decision Desk Poll released June 15, conducted along with SurveyMonkey, found that 45% of Americans approve of the way Trump is handling his job as president, while 55% disapprove. Those figures remain unchanged from an NBC News survey in April. (The survey was conducted among 19,410 adults nationwide between May 30 and June 10. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.1 percentage points.)
According to the survey, 51% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of border security and immigration, while 49% disapprove, the exception to his negative overall rating.
Here is what to know about Trump’s approval rating and how Americans have reacted to his immigration policies.
More: Did Obama deport more people than Trump? What to know as Trump calls for more ICE arrests
What do Americans think of Trump’s handling of immigration?
Trump has focused much of his presidency on advancing his immigration agenda, including deporting thousands of migrants to countries such as Colombia, Mexico and El Salvador. During his 2024 campaign, the sweeping deportations became his signature promise to voters.
Here are some other recent polls that show Americans’ views of Trump’s handling of immigration:
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Economist/YouGov poll: (June 13-16, 1,512 U.S. adult citizens, margin of error plus or minus 3.3%). Overall approval rating: 41% approve, 54% disapprove; Immigration issue approval rating: 44% approve, 52% disapprove. That’s a new low, according to this pollster.
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Morning Consult: (June 13-15, 2,207 registered voters, margin of error plus or minus two percentage points). Overall approval rating: 46% approve, 52% disapprove; Immigration approval rating: 51% approve, his best rating among the issues.
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Fox News Poll with Beacon Research and Shaw & Co. Research: (June 13-16, 1,003 registered voters, margin of error plus or minus three percentage points.) Overall approval rating: 46% approve, 54% disapprove; Immigration approval rating: 46% approve, 53% disapprove. The poll also asked about border security, which received higher approval at 53% compared to 46% who disapproved.
What is Trump’s approval rating?
RealClearPolitics Poll Average shows the gap between Americans who approve of Trump’s job and those who disapprove has been largely widening since June 7. Aggregated polls by the New York Times show a similar trend.
As of Jan. 27, Trump received a +6.2 percentage point approval rating, but as of March 13, it flipped to slightly negative, the RealClearPolitics graphics showsand widened over the following weeks until becoming the most negative on April 29 at -7.2 percentage points.
His average approval rating margin as of June 20, according to RealClearPolitics, is -5 percentage points. The approval margin according to the New York Times aggregator on June 20 is -8 percentage points.
A historical analysis by Gallup shows Trump’s approval ratings in May in his first years in office − both as the 45th and 47th presidents − are lower than any other modern president at the same time in their administrations.
Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at kcrowley@gannett.com. Follow her on X and TikTok @kinseycrowley or Bluesky at @kinseycrowley.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What is Trump’s approval rating? Often worse than views on immigration
