Polling Consensus: Latino Voters Part of American Majority Recoiling from Trump Mass Deportation Overreach, Supporting Balanced Immigration Solutions

Access online version of the press release HERE

Washington, DC — Latino voters are among the majority of Americans recoiling from watching the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda in action and instead calling for real and balanced immigration solutions in contrast to the chaos and cruelty of recent months. New polling of more than 2,500 Hispanic voters from Equis Research and Data for Progress finds (per the Equis poll summary):

“The closest Hispanics get to consensus in this poll is both in (a) support for deporting convicted violent criminals and (b) a belief that mass deportations will punish hard-working people and tear apart families. Enforcement alone is not seen as enough – as is made clear by Trump’s approval rating on immigration and perceptions that his administration has gone too far on deportations. In fact, when forced to rank, only about 1-in-4 Latino voters want Congress to focus on an enforcement-only approach to immigration.

While Latinos have not shed their concerns about border security, it is clear that they think Trump has overreached. What most Latinos say they want is a fair and balanced approach that both makes their communities safer (by improving security at the border to stop illegal crossings and drugs and deporting violent criminals) and protects law-abiding, hard-working immigrants (protecting them from deportation and defending a working asylum process).”

According to Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice:

“Latino voters want a balanced approach to immigration; they are among a broad majority of American voters at odds with the Trump extreme mass deportation agenda. The new Equis polling of Latino voters is consistent with our recent analysis of American polling and public opinion: a strong majority of Americans, including Latinos, want to modernize a broken immigration system, ensure a secure and orderly border, and focus deportations against actual public safety threats – not long-established immigrant workers.. Long-residing immigrants who are working and contributing to America should have a pathway to citizenship instead of being swept up in the mass deportation dragnet.”

As America’s Voice detailed in our recent memo synthesizing immigration polling and related political implications, when offered the choice in polling, a strong majority of the broader American public prefers a balanced approach to immigration, involving a path to legal status for long-residing undocumented immigrants (along with targeted enforcement against criminals and border security), instead of Trump’s enforcement-only and mass deportation approach (see more here including additional analysis about the way forward and broader takeaways for those opposing the mass deportation agenda).

Below, find more immigration details from the new polling of more than 2,500 Hispanic voters from Equis Research and Data for Progress (also read in The Bulwark, Adrian Carrasquillo’s related story, “Exclusive: Trump’s Losing the Latino Voters He Won in ’24”). Per the Equis poll summary:

• “Hispanic voters still support measures to keep us safe. But by a wide 66-29 margin they believe Trump’s ‘actions are going too far and targeting the types of immigrants who strengthen our nation’, ahead of believing his actions are ‘good and fair… If some people who are not criminals suffer because of it, it’s the price to pay to ensure our safety.’

• “Even 36% of Latinos who voted for Trump in 2024 say he has gone too far. Among the Biden defectors, it is 64%. Among all moderate Latinos, 72%. This is consistent with a finding from prior Equis polling: Trump’s newest voters expected him to focus narrowly on the deportation of criminals and recent border-crossers and by and large did not support efforts to deport immigrants more broadly.”
• “Overall, views on Trump’s performance on immigration are negative (39-61, or -22), and track closely with his overall job approval.” Equis also notes, “Trump has not hit rock-bottom on immigration, nor has slippage in his approval ratings transferred altogether into support for Democrats.”

Other recent polling of Latinos regarding immigration include:

• Bipartisan polling from BSP Research and Shaw & Co released by UnidosUS, UnidosUS, Voces Unidas, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and Climate Power en Acción in late April, found that nearly two-thirds of Latino voters believe the country is heading in the wrong direction. On immigration, UnidosUS noted:
• “78% of Latino voters believe it is important to deport dangerous criminals, but that President Trump and congressional Republicans should not target long-residing undocumented immigrants without criminal records.”
• “Top immigration policy priorities are a path to citizenship for long-residing undocumented immigrants and those brought to the country as children (66%), and cracking down on human smugglers and drug traffickers (46%)”
• Latino Community Foundation and Voto Latino poll of Latino voters (late April): per USA Today reporting: “around 63% of Latino voters surveyed believe the Trump administration has ‘gone too far’ in trying to stop illegal immigration and deporting undocumented migrants. Also, about 45% of those polled are worried that someone close to them will be deported.”