HAMDEN, CT – Six in 10 voters think the Trump administration is being too harsh in its treatment of undocumented immigrants and more than half think Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem should be removed from office, according to a recent Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday.
The survey was conducted among 1,191 self-identified registered voters nationwide between Jan. 29 and Feb. 2, the polling institute said.
About 30% of the voters surveyed said they think the Trump administration is handling immigration right, and 7% said they think the Trump administration is being too lenient in its treatment of undocumented immigrants in the United States.
Roughly half of voters, 51%, think the Trump administration’s approach to immigration is making the country less safe, 35% think it is making the country more safe and 12% think the Trump administration’s approach to immigration is not affecting it either way, according to the poll results.
In regards to the deadly shooting of Minneapolis nurse Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents, 61% of voters said they don’t think the Trump administration has given an honest account of what happened. Only 25% of respondents think the Trump administration has given an honest account of the incident, with 14 % not offering an opinion.
An overwhelming majority of voters – 80% – think there should be an independent investigation into the shooting, while 15% don’t think so, poll results show.
When asked whether they think Noem should be removed from her job as the head of Homeland Security, the agency that oversees Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, nearly 6 out of 10 voters – 58% – said yes, while 34% think she should remain in her job.
Overall approval for the way ICE is enforcing immigration laws has dropped from 40% in January to 34% in February, the poll shows.
Many voters – 59% – think the recent shootings by federal agents in Minneapolis are a sign of broader problems in the way the Department of Homeland Security and ICE agents are operating, while 32% think the shootings are isolated incidents, according to the poll results.
Other findings indicate that voters are overwhelmingly in support of ICE agents wearing body cameras (92%), which Noem has said are being deployed to agents in Minnesota this week, and that ICE should not be allowed to wear face coverings (61%).
The poll results also show that almost half of the voters polled – 47% – said they know someone living in fear because of the Trump administration’s deportation policies.