60 percent approve of sending troops to southern border: Survey

Around 60 percent of Americans approve of President Trump's administration sending troops to secure the southern border, according to a survey released Wednesday.

The new Quinnipiac University national poll found that 60 percent of U.S. adults back the deployment of U.S. troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to fortify security there, while 36 percent said otherwise.

Nearly all Republican voters, 95 percent, are supportive of the effort, while 68 percent of Democrats disapprove of it. Among 10 independents, 57 percent are supportive, while 40 percent are not.

"The huge deployment of boots on the ground is not to a dicey, far away war theater, but to the American border. And a majority of voters are just fine with that,” Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy said.

The Pentagon started sending troops to the southern border to assist in tamping down the number of migrants coming into the country last week. The deployment of service members came just two days after Trump signed several executive orders regarding the presence of troops at the border.

To help with the federal government’s crackdown on migration at the U.S.-Mexico border, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said Monday he would send 400 soldiers, along with C-130s and Chinook helicopters to help out the “Texas National Guard soldiers already deployed on the border to collaborate with U.S. Border Patrol agents on the border.”

The survey also showed that 44 percent of respondents support deporting all immigrants who lack permanent legal status and sending them back to their home countries. Another 39 percent said they support deporting only immigrants living in the country illegally who are convicted of violent crimes. Some 6 percent oppose both options while 10 percent have no opinion on the matter, according to the poll.

The poll was conducted from Jan. 23-27 among 1,019 self-identified registered voters. The margin of error was 3.1 percentage points.

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