49 percent of Americans agree with President Trump's immigration executive order

Contrary to what widespread protests at airports over the weekend may suggest, more Americans support President Trump's executive order on immigration than disagree with it. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Tuesday found that 49 percent of Americans either "strongly" or "somewhat" agree with Trump's order banning people from seven predominantly Muslim nations from entering the U.S. On the flip side, 41 percent "strongly" or "somewhat" disagree with the order. Ten percent said they weren't sure what to think.

The difference of opinion was split almost straight down party lines, Reuters noted. While 51 percent of Republicans said they "strongly agree" with Trump's order, 53 percent of Democrats said they "strongly disagree."

Americans were divided on whether the order made them feel safer (31 percent said yes and 26 percent said no), and on whether Trump's policy set a "good example" for fighting terrorism (38 percent said it did, while 41 percent said it set a "bad example"). One thing Americans did seem to agree on, however, is that America should not show preference for Christian refugees: Fifty-six percent said they did not think the country should "welcome Christian refugees, but not Muslim ones."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up

The poll was conducted online from Jan. 30-31 among 1,201 people, including 453 Democrats and 478 Republicans. Its margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points for the entire sample, and plus or minus 5 percentage points for Republicans and Democrats.