A majority of voters supports President Trump’s immigration ban amid a court showdown of the executive order, according to a new poll Wednesday.
A Morning Consult/Politico poll released Wednesday found that 55 percent of registered voters approve of the president’s immigration order, while 38 percent disapprove. Thirty-five percent strongly approve of the immigration ban.
Trump signed the executive order on Jan. 27, which halts all immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries — Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen — for 90 days. The order also blocks all refugees from coming to the United States for 120 days.
Republicans and Democrats have heavily criticized the Trump administration for how it rolled out the order, which affected thousands of people and created mass confusion at airports across the country.
The poll found that 58 percent of registered voters want congressional Democrats to focus on finding ways to work with the new president, and 30 percent feel they should stick to their principles, even if it means blocking nominations and all legislation. In contrast, 34 percent of Democratic voters want their party’s congressional leaders to find ways to work with Trump in order to get things done, while 56 percent want the party to block all laws and presidential nominees.
“There was talk after the election that Trump might be a president who Democrats could work with, at least on certain issues like infrastructure. But this new data indicates that, even if deals are possible, that’s not primarily what Democratic voters are looking for,” said Morning Consult Chief Research Officer and Co-Founder Kyle Dropp, according to Politico.
The immigration issue might affect the nomination battle of Judge Neil Gorsuch, Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court seat left empty by the late Justice Antonin Scalia. The poll shows 43 percent think the Senate should vote to confirm Gorsuch to the Supreme Court and 25 percent think otherwise. Fifty-eight percent of the voters think senators should confirm Gorsuch based on his qualifications to be appointed to the Supreme Court, while 26 percent say he should be judged on his views on political and social issues.
After his first two weeks in office, Trump’s approval rating is at 47 percent, down from 49 percent in the previous week in the same poll. His disapproval rating is at 46 percent, up from 41 percent. While 85 percent of Republican voters approve of the way Trump is handling the presidency, only 15 percent of Democrats approve of the same.
The Morning Consult/Politico poll of 2,070 registered voters was conducted Feb. 2-4 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
