Voters back Trump on immigration, even as approval numbers slip

Matthew Medsger, Boston Herald on Jun 3, 2025

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Voter approval of President Donald Trump’s immigration policies is running higher than opinions on his overall presidency, according to a pair of recent polls.

Trump scored identical overall voter approval ratings of 46% against 51% disapproval in recent surveys by Morning Consult and Economist/YouGov, both released Tuesday. While those figures are underwater, they are ahead of approval numbers at the same point during his first term.

“Trump began his second term by matching a record-high 52% approval from March 2017, but voters soured on his job performance during the most disruptive part of his trade war,” Morning Consult wrote of their survey of 2,200 registered voters.

“At a similar point in Trump’s first term, 44% of voters approved and 51% disapproved of his job performance, leaving his net approval rating today higher than it was then,” they wrote.

On immigration, however, the president has the support of voters.

“The president receives his best ratings on immigration (53%) and national security (53%),” Morning Consult wrote. “Similarly, views on Trump’s handling of trade remain above water (47% approval vs. 45% disapproval) for the second week in a row following weeks of net negative ratings that also date back to March.”

The Economist/YouGov survey of over 1,600 adults found precisely half disapproved of Trump’s work on “jobs and the economy” while 42% indicated approval of his efforts. Far more of the survey participants reported they feel the economy is getting worse than felt it is getting better — 47% to 28% — with about one-in-five reporting they feel no economic change since the presidential turnover.

Morning Consult found voters trust Democratic lawmakers more than their Republican counterparts on some issues — health care, LGBTQ+ rights, abortion, social security, Medicare and Medicaid — while they prefer the president’s party on matters of immigration and national security.

Voters are “closely divided” and unsure of which party to trust on the “economy, energy, the national debt, taxes, trade and foreign policy,” Morning Consult found.

But Democrats, according to Economist/YouGov, still haven’t figured out who they want to lead the party in the wake of their disastrous general election performance.

You could say that former Vice President Kamala Harris has the lead at 21% support, but only if you ignore the fact that former President Barack Obama — who cannot legally serve another term as commander-in-chief — also net 21% support when left-leaning survey participants were asked “who would you prefer to be the leader of the Democratic Party?”

Former Secretary of Transportation “Mayor” Pete Buttigieg ties with “not sure” at 10% support, and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez comes in fourth-excepting-Obama at 9%. U.S. Sen. Cory Booker and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries each earned 5%, while Vermont’s independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and the Bay State’s U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren net just 4%.

Just 2% of polled liberals picked former President Joe Biden as their choice for party leader.

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