Americans overwhelmingly support keeping the Constitution's guarantee of birthright citizenship amid growing public resistance to President Trump's immigration crackdown, according to a new survey that also measures attitudes across religions.
Why it matters: The survey released Tuesday by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) is the latest in a series of polls indicating the Trump administration's hardline immigration agenda is turning off many voters.
- The findings come as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is stepping up arrests and the Supreme Court has agreed to hear a challenge to Trump's executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship.
By the numbers: Two-thirds of Americans — including majorities of independents and many Republicans — support preserving the 14th Amendment's guarantee of citizenship to those born in the U.S., the survey found.
- Roughly 8 in 10 Black Protestants favor keeping birthright citizenship, and solid majorities of Hispanic Catholics and Hispanic Protestants support it as well.
- Even among Trump's most supportive religious constituency — white evangelical Protestants — 53% say the Constitution's guarantee should stand.
What they're saying: "Most Americans, including many conservatives and religious Americans, see birthright citizenship as a core constitutional promise," PRRI CEO Melissa Deckman told Axios.
- "Ending it is simply not something the public wants."
State of play: The Trump administration has sent ICE agents to Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte, New Orleans and Minneapolis.
- As in other cities, some U.S. citizens have been swept up by federal agents, sparking angry protests.
Zoom in: Only 3 in 10 Americans back Trump's overall immigration agenda, while two-thirds oppose it, PRRI found.
- Approval of Trump's handling of immigration has fallen to 43%, down significantly among independents, seniors and younger voters since March.
- Even border-state residents — typically more supportive of immigration enforcement — have turned against Trump's crackdown, with approval dropping from 42% in March to 33% in September.
Yes, but: Nearly 3 in 4 white evangelical Protestants approve of Trump's work on immigration.
- They're the only major religious group without majority support for a path to citizenship or legal status for "Dreamers" — unauthorized immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children.
- About 57% of white evangelicals back arresting and detaining unauthorized immigrants with no criminal record, and 59% support keeping them in detention camps until they're deported.
The intrigue: Majorities across nearly all religious groups — except white evangelicals — now lack confidence in ICE, the poll found.
- Deckman said ICE agents' aggressive raids — smashing car windows, pulling people out — has shocked the conscience of many Americans, and that's showing in the poll numbers.
The bottom line: Trump's second-term immigration agenda is mobilizing his base — particularly white evangelicals and Christian nationalists — but alienating much of the rest of the country.
- With the Supreme Court now weighing the future of birthright citizenship, the nation's ideological and religious divide over immigration could be about to widen even further.
Methodology: The American Values Survey was conducted online Aug. 15-Sept. 8. The poll is based on a representative sample of 5,543 adults (age 18 and older) living in all 50 states and the District of Columbia who are part of Ipsos' Knowledge Panel®.
- The margin of sampling error is +/- 1.79 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, for results based on the entire sample.
