More Americans worry about how deportations are being carried out than they worry about their current finances, according to a Vanderbilt poll released Wednesday. However, the economic forecast has many Americans bracing for the potential impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The Vanderbilt Unity Poll tracks how Americans nationwide are feeling about Trump’s economic and immigration policies.
The majority of Americans still support deporting people who don’t have legal status, but that support drops to roughly a third when the person being deported doesn’t get a formal hearing in immigration court, according to the poll.
Trump’s crackdown on immigration has led to wrongful deportations, like in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported to an El Salvadoran prison despite an immigration court order that he remain in America. The U.S. Supreme Court ordered the Trump Administration to facilitate the return Abrego Garcia to the U.S. Other courts have also ruled against the president’s immigration enforcement policies. The Vanderbilt poll found that an overwhelming 83% of respondents believe Trump should follow those rulings, even if they generally support deportations.
The poll also found that Republicans who identify as MAGA has dropped 8 percentage points from its all-time high after the inauguration, putting them in the minority within the party.
“Tracking ‘Republicans’ as a single group of partisans no longer tells a complete story,” said John Geer, co-director of the Vanderbilt Poll. “There are notable differences in sentiment among MAGA Republicans and traditional Republicans.”
Those differences are most apparent on questions surrounding Trump’s accountability to the courts and whether he has the authority to disenroll international students going to school in the U.S.
As for the economy, most Americans feel good about their finances right now, with roughly half saying that their financial situation hasn’t changed and roughly a quarter saying their financial situation has improved. However, a strong majority fear that Trump’s tariffs will hurt their bottom line in the future.
Federal Reserve officials have warned that the tariffs could reverse the progress America has made on inflation in the past two years.
Two-thirds of respondents said they were at least “somewhat concerned” about the recent instability of the stock market.
Additional Highlights:
- General interest in politics is low, with only 11% selecting it as the topic they are most interested in. Health and wellness had the highest level of interest at 25%.
- Twenty-nine percent think AI will make their and their families’ lives much or somewhat better, 36% think it will make life somewhat or much worse, and 34% think it will not make much difference.
- Thirty-five percent of Republicans are enthusiastic about the actions the Trump administration has taken so far this term, and 31% are satisfied but not enthusiastic. Among Democrats, 68% are angry, and 21% are dissatisfied but not angry.
- Among those who are interested in politics, MAGA supporters have the highest representation.
- Sixteen percent of the MAGA group cite politics as their top interest.
- Twelve percent of Democrats indicate politics as a top interest.
- Traditional Republicans exhibit the lowest interest in politics, with only 6% listing it as their top interest.
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