WASHINGTON, April 22 (Reuters) – United States President Donald Trump’s aggressive campaign to deport immigrants could weigh on the Republican Party in November’s midterm congressional elections, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.
About 52% of Americans in the six-day poll concluded Monday said they were less likely to support a candidate who supported Trump’s approach to deportations, significantly more than the 42% who said they were more likely to support such a candidate.
The disadvantage for Trump’s allies was most pronounced among people who do not identify with either major political party, with 57% of independents saying they prefer a candidate who opposes Trump’s deportations and 32% preferring candidates who support Trump on the issue.
Republicans may face an uphill battle to defend their majorities in both houses of Congress in November’s midterm elections, with the party already under pressure from rising gasoline prices as a result of the US and Israeli war on Iran. Republican lawmakers have almost universally supported Trump’s hard-line approach to immigration, reflecting the president’s growing dominance over the party since winning the 2024 election with a promise to crack down on unauthorized immigrants.
Trump’s immigration policy was initially supported by a fairly broad swath of the United States, with 50% of the country approving of his performance on the issue in Reuters/Ipsos polls in the weeks after his inauguration in January 2025. But after more than a year of aggressive law enforcement measures – including the deployment of masked federal agents across the country and the deaths of two US citizens in the crackdown – only 40% of respondents in the last poll they approved Trump’s performance on the issue.
The survey, conducted online, gathered responses from 4,557 US adults across the country and had a margin of error of 2 percentage points.
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(Reporting by Jason Lange and Ted Hesson in Washington and MB Pell)
