Majority of Republicans Support Trump’s Immigration Policy, Poll Finds

During a White House press briefing Monday, despite all available evidence to the contrary, United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen claimed that the U.S. government “does not have a policy of separating children at the border.” If she was concerned about possibly alienating the president’s voters, she needn’t have worried. New polling data indicate more than half of Republicans favor a practice that has drawn comparisons to the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.

According to Quinnipiac, 55 percent of Republicans back family separation while just 35 percent oppose it. By contrast, 91 percent of Democrats oppose the president’s latest gambit versus 7 percent who support it. More than a quarter (27 percent) of the country overall approves the administration’s “zero tolerance” approach to immigration.

For his part, Trump has repeatedly attempted to blame the political opposition for his own policies, even as a senior White House adviser brags about tearing immigrant children from their parents.

Quinnipiac’s were not the only disturbing findings published Monday. An Ipsos survey conducted exclusively for The Daily Beast reveals that Kim Jong Un, who has executed his own officials with anti-aircraft weapons, is slightly more popular with the GOP than Nancy Pelosi. Nineteen percent hold a favorable opinion of the North Korean dictator against just 17 percent for the Democratic House minority leader, per the poll. Sixty-eight and 72 percent of Republicans disapproved of Kim and Pelosi respectively.

New data from Gallup are no less dispiriting. Weekly polling reveals that the president’s approval rating currently sits at 45 percent—his best mark since the first week of his presidency. Similarly, his support within the GOP has swelled to 90 percent, matching a personal high.

It would be unwise to extrapolate too much from a handful of polls in June of 2018. The Ipsos survey, for instance, was based on a sample of 1,000 respondents, while the midterm elections remain several months away. Still, amid reports that migrant children are being kept in cages, and that the Trump administration is weighing the construction of tent cities across Texas, it seems reasonable to wonder whether Republican voters are beyond reaching.