You'll be hearing plenty about how President Donald Trump's approval rating has slipped, which comes as several polls were released over the weekend. He still has a better approval rating than his successor/predecessor, President Joe Biden, and there's plenty of room for improvement, as well as time for Trump to improve on key issues like the economy and inflation, depending on how tariffs go. Regardless of how Trump is doing on those top of mind issues, there's one plus worth highlighting, and that's immigration, specifically his deportation issues.
With Trump at a net -1.4 approval rating per RealClearPolling, this is actually his best issue. Recent polls for Trump have been particularly less than stellar, including and especially with the release of last Friday's poll from The New York Times, where he's at -4 on the issue. During a panel discussion that same day, CNN's Scott Jennings had an apt argument that Trump's rating has slipped because Democratic allies, like his co-panelists, lie to the American people, namely about "Maryland man" Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who is actually an illegal immigrant from El Salvador.
We have to stop LYING to the American public.
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) April 26, 2025
No matter how many times the lie is repeated, Albrego Garcia is not a “Maryland man.” He’s not a “mind-mannered father.”
He’s an illegal immigrant from El Salvador with a history of violence & evidence of gang activity. pic.twitter.com/mhTYwas1he
One of the many other polls released this weekend included a poll from CBS News. The write-up included a section on "Immigration and deportation," which mentions, "Most Americans think Mr. Trump's policies have reduced border crossings. Most also continue to approve of his deportation program in general."
As the poll's write-up and graphics highlight, 64 percent of Americans acknowledge that Trump's policies on the U.S.-Mexico border have made crossings "go down." A majority or plurality of all demographics, except for liberals and Democrats, acknowledge this. A plurality of liberals and Democrats, at 49 and 47 percent, respectively, say that his policies are making crossings "not change."
Talk about being delusional, though liberals and Democrats were the ones claiming throughout last year that they were looking to fix the issue with a particularly bad border bill, when all then President Joe Biden should have done was enforce immigration laws and close the border. It didn't work. Whether he was running against Biden or then-Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump enjoyed a commanding lead on immigration, which was a top issue for voters, if not the top issue.
It's not just that border crossings have gone down under this second Trump term, but encounters at the border with illegal immigrants are at record lows. This comes after the country experienced record high border crossings under the Biden-Harris administration in December 2023, before the month was even over.
The poll also shows that 56 percent approve of Trump's deportation efforts. Women are evenly split, at 50-50, when it comes to whether they approve or disapprove. Not shockingly, 80 percent of liberals and 78 percent of Democrats disapprove. Black and Hispanic respondents also disagree, with 56 percent of each demographic saying so.
Not only is Trump above water on his deportation efforts, with a +12 net approval, but he's doing better than he was at the start of the month, when he was at +8, with a 54-46 percent approval rating for his deportation efforts, as InteractivePolls highlighted in a post on X.
That post also highlighted how every age group approves of these deportation efforts as well.
Most Americans think Trump’s policies have reduced border crossings and a majority continue to approve of his deportation program in general.
— CBS News Poll (@CBSNewsPoll) April 27, 2025
(although Trump's approval on immigration has slipped some since the start of this term) https://t.co/T9sAzTQMyQ pic.twitter.com/Q8uNBsGgj0
CBS Poll: Do you approve or disapprove of the Trump administration's program to find and deport immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally?
— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) April 27, 2025
🟢 Approve: 56% (+12)
🔴 Disapprove: 44%
Was net +8 (54-46) on April 8
——
• Ages 18-29: 52-48 (+4)
• Ages 30-44: 52-48 (+4)
• Ages 45-64:… pic.twitter.com/gjiYNJmxbp
Overall, Trump's approval rating on immigration is 49-51 percent, his best issue between that, the economy, and inflation. That's consistent with the RCP tracker, which includes even more issues.
When it comes to the RCP issue tracker between Trump's second term and Biden's term, it is curious that immigration is Trump's best issue, while it was one of Biden's worst. With just 33.5 percent approving of how Biden handled immigration, while 64.8 percent disapproved, giving him a net -31.3 approval rating, the only issue where he had a worse net approval rating was on his handling of the Israel-Hamas conflict. That just 31.3 percent approved, while 64 percent disapproved, giving him a net approval rating of -32.7, is hardly surprising. Many of Biden's own Democrats were no doubt less than thrilled with his handling, given how much the party is in disarray over supporting our ally in the Middle East.
Just like so many other poll write-ups and so many other networks, CBS News' "Face the Nation" began its programming by emphasizing the drop in Trump's approval rating. Anthony Salvanto, the CBS News director of elections and surveys, was the first guest on the program. He did, however, eventually get to how Trump is still doing well on immigration and his deportation efforts.
"Immigration was a huge issue during the campaign," host Margaret Brennan brought up. "The president has put it at the centerpiece of his administration policy effort. Is it bolstering him?"
Salvanto offered that "in some ways, very much so." He went on to cite how the poll found that "two-thirds of Americans say that his policies have reduced border crossings," adding that "that was key in the campaign, so that's seen overall as a success story." He also highlighted how "his deportation plan continues to get majority approval, but it's in the details where we start to see some differences." That might be where Jennings' point comes in even more handy, regarding this narrative about how "legal residents are mistakenly deported." It's also worth emphasizing that these questions were asked as hypotheticals, with an "if" in the wording.
Moments before, Salvanto had also shared how Trump's base was also still behind him. "I have to add, his political base, MAGA Republicans, in particular, are still very much behind him and are okay with this," after he had just been mentioning the economy and tariffs.
These comments echo what the CBS News poll write-up had been referencing:
Alongside that, he continues to get majority approval for his deportation program, though more Americans prioritize the economy in their evaluations of him.
MAGA Republicans, in contrast, say their evaluations are based more on immigration and overwhelmingly approve of his efforts there. Plus they have a much rosier outlook on the U.S. economy than Americans overall now that Trump is in office, and most of them say it is too soon to judge him.
As we covered earlier this month and last month, an NBC News poll from March 7-11 found that a record high number of respondents said they identified as part of the MAGA movement.
The poll was conducted April 23-25 with 2,356 U.S. adults and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.
Our new CBS News polling shows that President Trump's overall approval rating has dropped eight points since his inauguration, to 45%. And although most Americans say he's doing what he promised during his campaign, there is growing concern about some of the policies he's… pic.twitter.com/ibJnhq8iks
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) April 27, 2025
