Source: Politics<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump\u2019s mass deportation campaign is running into resistance within his own voter coalition, as more and more Republican candidates publicly break with him ahead of the November election.<\/p>\n
New results from The POLITICO Poll<\/a> help explain why: Non-MAGA Trump voters are more than twice as likely as self-identified MAGA Trump voters to say his mass deportation campaign is too aggressive, 31% to 14%. While roughly similar shares of both groups believe Trump\u2019s campaign is about right, the MAGA base wants him to go even further: 36% of MAGA Trump voters say his campaign is not aggressive enough, compared with 23% of non-MAGA Trump voters.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, support across Trump\u2019s entire voter coalition falls when it comes to deporting people beyond the most violent offenders, such as those with minor criminal offenses or who have been living in the U.S. for years without legal status.<\/p>\n The new survey, conducted by London-based Public First, reveals how Trump\u2019s immigration agenda \u2014 which has long been one of his signature political issues and a reliable GOP rallying point<\/a> \u2014 has divided the very coalition that helped power his two presidential wins. The president\u2019s MAGA loyalists are still more inclined than other Trump voters to support a tougher immigration posture, but there are clear limits to how far voters want the administration to go.<\/p>\n Those intraparty tensions burst into public view this month, when Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) released a campaign ad<\/a> pushing back against Trump\u2019s deportation agenda, saying some of his efforts \u201chave gone too far\u201d and that Hispanic voters who supported him in 2024 \u201cfeel betrayed.\u201d It was a remarkable break from a sitting GOP lawmaker over one of the president\u2019s defining policies, as Democrats have locked<\/a> in on Florida\u2019s 27th District as a prime target in their bid to flip the House.<\/p>\n Salazar\u2019s public rift with Trump exemplifies the fears Republicans had been<\/a> privately warning about<\/a> for months: that the president\u2019s immigration enforcement \u2014 marked last year by high-profile, flashy raids that rippled through communities \u2014 was alienating moderate Republicans,<\/a> independents, young voters and Latinos who support border security and immigration enforcement in theory but dislike how it is being carried out.<\/p>\n And as the party stares down a difficult midterm landscape, including in districts and states Trump won in 2024<\/a>, other GOP candidates followed Salazar\u2019s lead, increasingly putting distance between themselves and the administration on key issues like immigration \u2014 despite having voted last year to approve billions of dollars for border security and immigration enforcement. On Wednesday, Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), whose race has tightened<\/a> against Democrat Adam Hamilton, also softened his stance on Immigration and Customs Enforcement as raids in southwest Kansas prompt temporary business closures and schools.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen ICE operates in Kansas, it needs to coordinate with our local law enforcement. Our sheriffs and police know these communities better than anyone, and working together keeps officers and residents safe,\u201d he wrote on social media,<\/a> adding that he\u2019s been in direct contact with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.<\/p>\n The POLITICO Poll finds most Americans \u2014 including majorities of both MAGA and non-MAGA Trump voters \u2014 believe people convicted of serious violent or sexual offenses should be prioritized for deportation, underscoring broad agreement on a more targeted approach to enforcement.<\/p>\n The survey also finds that few people \u2014 including among both MAGA and non-MAGA Trump voters \u2014 prioritized targeting other groups for deportations. Less than a quarter of each group say people convicted of minor criminal offenses should be prioritized. Support falls further when voters are asked about prioritizing people who have lived in the U.S. for several years without legal status or people with dependent children in the U.S.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of it has to do with how you talk about it. They don\u2019t want amnesty for people who have broken the law. They want everybody to do it the right way,\u201d said a person close to the White House granted anonymity to discuss how Republicans are viewing the issue. \u201cThey understand that some people might be law-abiding, hard working.\u201d<\/p>\n White House spokesperson Lauren Bis said POLITICO is \u201cskewing data to paint a false narrative.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe American people sent President Trump back to the White House to stop the invasion of our country and deport the millions of illegal aliens Biden and Democrats allowed into the country. The president is delivering on his promises,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Days after releasing the ad, Salazar said she had a \u201cfantastic conversation\u201d with Trump and urged him to protect the political \u201cfortune\u201d he had brought to the Republican Party on immigration. She also told CBS last weekend<\/a> that Trump and the average American understand \u201cthe between the narco and the nanny and the gangster and the gardener.\u201d<\/p>\n She said the administration should distinguish between criminals and unauthorized immigrants working in crucial industries such as agriculture, construction, hospitality and health care.<\/p>\n That distinction is also reflected in The POLITICO Poll. Both MAGA and non-MAGA Trump voters are open to maintaining or increasing the number of people coming into the U.S. to work in sectors facing labor shortages, such as health care or agriculture. Sixty-five percent of MAGA Trump voters and 69% non-MAGA Trump voters say they want to see about the same number \u2014 or more \u2014 people coming to the U.S. to work in those sectors facing labor shortages.<\/p>\n \u201cTrump 2.0 that took over in January 2025 completely misread what voters were telling him and Joe Biden during 2024, which was that they wanted to see more order and security over the U.S.-Mexico border,\u201d said Matt Barreto, who conducted polling for former Vice President Kamala Harris\u2019 2024 campaign. \u201cInstead, what Trump told Americans was, \u2018Now I\u2019m going to go hunt down immigrants who are just working and contributing to America.\u2019 And there was extremely limited support for that.\u201d<\/p>\n Past POLITICO polling<\/a> on immigration has shown that the Trump administration has been unable to reverse the damage with voters on the issue. Last fall, battleground Republicans were already expressing concern<\/a> about the administration\u2019s immigration tactics. Those concerns intensified in the months that followed, while negative voter sentiment hardened by April<\/a> after federal agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n The Trump administration, in the wake of bipartisan outrage, softened its rhetoric<\/a> and abandoned flashy raids that often devolved into clashes with protesters. The president also installed Mullin, who moved quickly to repair relationships on Capitol Hill and keep the Department of Homeland Security out of the headlines.<\/a><\/p>\n But Mullin is also facing pressure from MAGA critics<\/a> and immigration hardliners who think he\u2019s not committed to the president\u2019s vow to deport millions of unauthorized immigrants. In an effort to shore up his support<\/a> with that contingent, top administration accounts, including Mullin\u2019s, have ramped up posts about ICE, arrests statistics and tough talk about the administration\u2019s immigration enforcement agenda.<\/p>\n