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Poll: More Say Trump’s Immigration Order Increases National Security

But opinion divided whether the president's policy will keep the U.S. safe from terrorism

A new poll shows public opinion is divided over President Donald Trump's executive action on immigration. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
A new poll shows public opinion is divided over President Donald Trump's executive action on immigration. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)

Most Americans think President Donald Trump’s travel ban order will make the U.S. more secure, although not everyone considers his policies will keep the U.S. safe from terrorism, a new poll shows.

Forty-three percent of those polled said they think Trump’s executive order imposing a ban on immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries will increase national security, 24 percent said it will cause a decrease, and 15 percent said it will have no effect. The remaining 18 percent said they weren’t sure, according to a Economist/YouGov poll released Wednesday.

Opinion was evenly divided over whether the Trump administration’s policies will make the nation safe from terrorism, with 35 percent saying they would make the country safer and 35 percent said they would make the U.S. less safe. Another 15 percent said they wouldn’t make a difference and 15 percent said they weren’t sure.

The poll came after Trump’s travel ban was stopped by a federal court and that decision was upheld by an appellate court. The White House said it is considering rewriting the order.

The poll showed the public evenly split on whether Trump’s executive action on immigration was constitutional, with 40 percent saying it was and 41 percent saying it wasn’t, and the remainder unsure.

A majority agreed that the courts should have the authority to review a president’s executive orders dealing with national security — 57 percent — while 25 percent said they shouldn’t and 18 percent said they were not sure.

But those who felt the restraining order issued over the travel ban will harm U.S. national security slightly outweighed those who thought it would have no effect, 37 percent to 34 percent.

The Economist/YouGov’s web-based poll surveyed 1,500 adults from Feb. 12 to Feb. 14, 1,283 of them saying they were registered voters. It had a sampling error of +/- 3.1 percent. 

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