The majority of U.S. voters support President Trump’s campaign promise to temporarily suspend immigration from countries that have been havens for terrorism, a promise Trump turned into one of his early executive orders last week.
The Jan. 25-26 poll found 57 percent of likely voters approve of Trump’s campaign pledge. That poll was completed just a day before Trump issued an executive order that temporarily bans immigration from Middle Eastern and north African countries, and also suspend the intake of refugees until better vetting policies can be implemented.
Although the executive order halts immigration from seven of the world’s 49 Muslim-majority countries (Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen), Democratic lawmakers and organizations and decried the move as discriminating based on religion.
One-third of respondents in the poll opposed Trump’s stance on immigration, while 10 percent were undecided.
Last August, 59 percent of likely voters supported Trump’s campaign promise to temporarily suspend immigration from the “most dangerous and volatile regions of the world that have a history of exporting terrorism.”
More than four-in-five Republicans support the move, while three-in-five unaffiliated voters and one-third of Democrats agree with Trump’s decision.
The survey was conducted online and by telephone. The margin of error is 3 percentage points.
