Views of Trump’s handling of immigration — which has fallen over the course of his first year — remained steady last month, with about 4 in 10 saying they approve of the president’s approach. But the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research also found that the Republican Party’s advantage on Trump’s signature political issue has shrunk since October.

About 3 in 10 US adults trust Republicans to do a better job handling immigration, while a similar share say the same about Democrats. A further 3 in 10, roughly, do not think that either party can do a better job of handling the issue, and about 1 in 10 say that both parties will handle it equally well.

The Republican president’s core supporters remain largely supportive of Trump’s immigration tactics. But there are signs that more independents think he will go far.

“I’m glad that immigrants are not just flooding across the border, but what he’s doing now in our cities, fighting the military against our people, it’s gestapo tactics,” said independent Brenda Shaw, a 65-year-old human resources manager from South Haven, Michigan. “They shot US citizens in the face and in the back.”

The new poll comes as the nation looks at the human impact of Trump’s crackdown on Minneapolis, where thousands of armed masked agents descended on the city to find and remove immigrants in the country illegally.

There have also been several violent clashes with protesters, including two US citizens killed by federal agents in recent weeks. About 6 in 10 Americans believe Trump is “going too far” when using federal law enforcement on public protests in US cities, the poll found.

Republicans remain behind Trump on immigration

While about 9 in 10 Democrats and about 7 in 10 independents say Trump has “gone too far” in sending federal immigration agents to US cities and using federal law enforcement at public protests, nearly a quarter of Republicans agree.

According to a new survey, about half of Republicans say Trump’s actions are “about right,” while about a quarter of Republicans say he hasn’t gone far enough. Their support for the president has not wavered despite the unrest in Minneapolis.

Teviss Crawford, a 20-year-old student from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, said he was happy with Trump’s leadership on immigration, although he wanted the president to find a way to deport more immigrants who are in the country illegally.

“I don’t think the deportations are enough, to be honest. I think it’s too lax,” he said of Trump’s crackdown. “If you crossed our country illegally, it’s not right. You’re taking things away from people who were born here.”

Crawford added that Trump “should target violent criminals, but violent criminals are probably harder to find.”

Independents largely disapprove of the current approach to immigration enforcement

Despite their strong support for Trump, Republicans have been increasingly isolated in supporting Trump’s immigration enforcement tactics.

Trump’s approval on immigration seems to have fallen among independents since last spring, from 37% in March 2025 to 23% in the new poll. There is greater variability in surveying smaller groups, such as independents, which creates more uncertainty about the magnitude of changes. About 6 in 10 independents now say Trump “has gone too far” in deporting immigrants living in the US illegally, a marked increase from 46% in an AP-NORC poll in April.

Most US adults, including independents, have a negative view of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, commonly referred to as ICE. Overall, only about 3 in 10 US adults have a favorable view of the agency, the AP-NORC poll found.

There is a large partisan gap, with independents closer to Democrats than Republicans. Only about 1 in 10 Democrats and nearly 2 in 10 independents have a favorable view of ICE, compared to about 7 in 10 Republicans.

“Closing the border, that’s OK. But what is Trump doing with ICE and Homeland Security? You don’t snatch people from cars. You don’t shoot people,” said independent Rick Kinnett, a 60-year-old Navy veteran from Crawfordsville, Indiana.

“I spent eight years in the military. This is not what I signed up for,” he said. “This is not what we should be doing. This is not constitutional.”

Trump’s weak numbers remain steady

Trump’s immigration approval has not moved since January despite a month of immigration-related chaos.

About 38% of US adults approve of Trump’s handling of immigration more broadly, according to a January AP-NORC poll held just after the death of Renee Good, the first US citizen in Minnesota to be killed by federal agents.

The president’s overall approval rating has fallen slightly since the start of his second term and remains low.

Overall, 36% of US adults say they approve of Trump’s handling of the presidency. His approval ratings on the economy and foreign policy were the same as his overall approval ratings and unchanged from January.

Historically, such numbers have pushed members of a president’s party to distance themselves from him — especially heading into a midterm election period. Still, Trump’s allies in Washington and in state capitals across the country remain largely united behind him, showing consistently strong support from Republicans in polls.

But Trump’s immigration policy appears to be a particularly sore spot for independents. While he appears to be slipping among independents on immigration, Trump’s approval rating on the economy — the other signature issue where he has recently been criticized for failing to deliver on campaign promises — is about the same as it was last spring.

And the shrinking Republican advantage on immigration is a warning sign for Trump’s party. In October, 39% of US adults said they trusted Republicans to handle immigration better, while 26% said so about Democrats, giving the GOP a 13-point edge. In the new poll, the difference between the parties is only 4 points.

“What he did to ICE is the worst thing right now. I would say the economy is the second worst thing,” said Shaw, the human resources manager from Michigan. “I’m getting ready to retire and I’m thinking about how I’m going to do it.”

“But I was blessed,” he added. “I don’t have to hide in the basement because my skin is brown.”

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The AP-NORC poll of 1,156 adults was conducted February 5-8 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the US population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.