Immigration Remains Trump’s Strongest Issue in Latest Harvard/Harris Poll

The Center for American Political Studies at Harvard University has released the latest poll conducted on its behalf by the Harris Poll and Harris X, and it shows immigration remains President Trump’s most popular issue — and border security the “biggest achievement” of his second term. 

That Harvard/Harris poll was conducted between May 14 and 15 and surveyed 1,903 registered voters. The margin of error is +/- 2.2 points.

Trump Approval Overall

Love Donald Trump or loathe him, nearly everybody has an opinion about the incumbent, and more than 100 days into his second term, 47 percent of respondent’s approve of his performance as president compared to 48 percent who disapprove. 

Curiously, in these polarized times, Democrats are more likely to approve of Trump than Republicans are to disapprove of his performance, though admittedly it is close. 

Trump had an 87 percent approval rating among GOP voters, 11 percent of whom disapproved of the job that he is doing since his return to the Oval Office. Conversely, 84 percent of Democratic voters disapproved of Trump’s performance, compared to 14 percent of those in the Party of Jackson who are fine with a second helping of the man. 

Male voters approve of Trump’s performance by an 8-point margin (52 percent approve versus 44 percent who disapprove), while female voters disapprove of the president by a 9-point margin (42 percent approve compared to 51 percent who disapprove).

“Which of these Issues Is Most Important to You Personally?”

Harris offered respondents a list of 10 different issues, from “curbing guns”, “racial equity”, and “climate change” to “inflation”, and asked which was “most important” to them “personally”. 

Not surprisingly, inflation came out on top, the choice of 40 percent of those polled who are concerned about rising prices. As boxing legend Joe Louis once explained, “I don’t like money, actually, but it quiets my nerves” – apparently many of his fellow Americans feel the same. 

The next most important personal issue to U.S. voters in that poll was “restoring basic American values of merit and competence” (which cynics may argue begs an important question), at 13 percent. 

Hot on the heels of returning merit to our society? “Immigration”, the choice of 11 percent of those polled, including 18 percent of Republican voters and tied among that demographic with restoring the aforementioned “basic American values”. 

Note that 9 percent of Independent voters – an all-important bloc in the 2026 midterm elections – also identified immigration as the most important issue to them personally, placing it ahead of “tariffs and trade policy” (6 percent), abortion (7 percent), and even “crime” (8 percent).

Immigration also came in third (at 27 percent) when Harris asked voters to randomly name “the most important issues facing the country today”, trailing just pocketbook concerns like inflation (34 percent, down 8 points from the last Harvard/Harris poll) and the “economy and jobs”, which has held steady at 31 percent from prior polling. 

In that regard, immigration swamps such hot-button issues like “taxes” (16 percent), the “national debt” (13 percent), and the “Israel-Hamas conflict” (5 percent). 

Trump’s Biggest Achievements

When voters were asked to name the biggest and second-biggest achievements of Trump’s first 100 days, immigration-related issues came out on top, and it wasn’t even close: 31 percent praised the president for “stopping illegal immigration across the border” (including 29 percent of Independents); and 22 percent lauded him for “deporting criminals” (for which Trump received kudos from 21 percent of the politically unaligned). 

Do the math and you will see that half of respondents named either border security or criminal alien removals as Trump’s biggest successes, though to be fair 15 percent were happy with the trade deals the president inked with the United Kingdom and China and 12 percent favored Trump’s efforts to reduce government expenditures (including 14 percent of Independent voters). 

All that said, 63 percent of Democratic voters and 40 percent of Independents weren’t pleased with anything Trump did in his first 100 days.

Issue Approval Questions

Separately, respondents were offered eight different issue areas and asked whether they approved or disapproved of Trump’s performance in each of them.

He received his lowest grades on “handling inflation”, an area in which just 43 percent of voters approved of his performance, followed by the economy (46 percent) and foreign affairs (also 46 percent). 

The president’s best marks were awarded for the job he is doing on “returning America to its values” (51 percent), tied with his efforts on “immigration” (also 51 percent). 

Trump has held steady in the Harvard/Harris poll for two months on his handling of immigration, though he’s seen a slight decline since February on the subject, when 56 percent of voters approved of the job he was doing.

Separately, Harris asked respondents whether they supported or opposed specific policies, and two immigration proposals scored big: 78 percent of voters liked the idea of “deporting immigrants who are here illegally and have committed crimes” (22 percent disapproved); and 70 percent favored “closing the border with added security and policies that discourage illegal crossings” (30 percent disapproved). 

Aside from “lowering prescription drug prices for Medicare recipients and low-income patients” (84 percent liked that idea and 16 percent disapproved), no other single issue was viewed more favorably by voters in the Harvard/Harris poll than deporting criminal illegal aliens. 

In that vein, 75 percent of those polled supported the administration’s “efforts to deport criminals who are here illegally” (including 56 percent of Democrats and 75 percent of Independents) and 63 percent approved of Trump’s “actions to close the southern border” (including 61 percent of Independents but just 39 percent of Democrats). 

Concerns

Not that there aren’t some concerns among the electorate with respect to how the administration has been going about its removal efforts. Some 15 percent of voters and Independents (and 7 percent of Republicans) said “deporting people without due process” is the biggest “failure or mistake” of the president’s second term. 

Moreover, 53 percent of voters told Harvard/Harris that “the administration is unfairly deporting people who are not really criminals” (47 percent said Trump is only focused on criminal aliens), and 57 percent support Democratic moves “to stop deportations and ensure that people who are being deported have hearings and trials before being deported” (including 35 percent of GOP voters) – which likely explains why so many elected Democrats are trying to visit Kilmar Abrego Garcia in El Salvador.

Note that even ICE isn’t claiming that all the aliens it’s arresting are criminals, but nearly three-quarters of the 33,242 at-large alien arrests its officers and agents made in Trump’s first 50 days had either criminal convictions (14,111, 42.4 percent of the total) or pending criminal charges (9,980, 30 percent). 

By the end of the president’s (second) first 100 days, ICE had arrested: 1,329 aliens accused or convicted of sex offenses; 498 accused or convicted of murder; 9,639 with arrests or convictions for assault; 6,398 with DWIs or DUI arrests or convictions; 1,479 aliens convicted or accused of weapon offenses and “2,288 gang members from Tren de Aragua, MS-13, 18th Street and other gangs”.

By comparison, fewer than 72 percent of the aliens ICE arrested in FY 2024, the last full fiscal year of the Biden administration, had either criminal arrests or convictions.

Not that Congress intends for ICE to limit removals to criminal aliens. The Immigration and Nationality Act requires DHS to attempt to deport every alien who has entered illegally, overstayed a visa, or otherwise committed a removable act – a list that includes illegal voting and polygamy.

But to show how inconsistent voters’ opinions about immigration enforcement are, however, I’ll also note that more than half – 51 percent – of respondents in the Harvard/Harris poll think aliens here illegally should be subject to “prompt deportation” (49 percent think they should get a “trial” first) and that nearly half (48 percent) think Trump “has a strong case” to seek “to suspend habeas corpus . . . by arguing that the constitution allows for it in cases of ‘invasion and when public safety may require it,’ because illegal immigration fits into this definition”. 

Party Approval

Immigration enforcement has long been seen as a “Republican” issue, so those concerns aside, it likely shouldn’t be a big surprise that the GOP is now viewed positively by a majority of U.S. voters, 52 percent of whom approve of the Party of Lincoln and 48 percent of whom disapprove. 

Electoral losses have likely dented the Democratic brand, on the other hand, given that just 42 percent of U.S. voters approve of that party and 58 percent disapprove, including 64 percent of whites, 54 percent of Hispanics, and 56 percent of Asians. 

Not that Republicans are winning many non-white voters, either: 61 percent of Blacks, the same percentage of Hispanics, and 56 percent of Asians all view the GOP unfavorably. 

While voters have concerns about how the Trump administration is removing aliens from this country, the latest Harvard/Harris poll shows they want border security and criminal deportations and are pleased Trump is delivering both. That’s good news for him and his fellow Republicans.