Many Americans support Trump's agenda, but not the person: Survey

Many Americans support President-elect Trump’s agenda, including action on immigration and tariffs, but not the person himself, according to a new survey released on Saturday.

The New York Times/Ipsos poll found that 87 percent of respondents support deporting illegal immigrants in the U.S. who have a criminal record, something Trump vowed to execute while campaigning in 2024. A near majority of respondents, 55 percent, said they support deporting all immigrants who are in the country illegally while 42 opposed it.

Ending birthright citizenship for kids born to immigrants in the country illegally did not have as much support with 41 percent saying they backed the initiative while 55 percent said otherwise, according to the survey.

Some four in 10, 41 percent, agreed with the statement that immigrants are a “burden” to the country. More than half, 56 percent, agreed with the statement that immigrants “strengthen our country,” the poll found.

The majority of people, 68 percent, believe that the economic system in the U.S. “unfairly favors the wealthy.” Only 30 percent think the economic system is “generally fair” to most Americans, according to the survey.

Just over a quarter, 27 percent, said one thing they are “worried or pessimistic” about in Trump’s second term is the negative perceptions of his character, behavior and criminal convictions, according to the poll. Favoritism, abuse of power and corruption came in second at 13 percent.

One of Trump’s main talking points during the campaign was his eagerness to impose tariffs across the board. In November, he threatened to impose new tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, the U.S. largest trading partners, to force them to crack down more on the influx of fentanyl coming into the country and further fortify their borders.

Mexico and Canada would be slapped with a 25 percent tariff while the one for China would be 10 percent, according to Trump.

More people surveyed oppose increased tariffs on imports from Mexico and China. Around 45 percent said they “strongly” or “somewhat” support them while 50 percent said the opposite. Some 4 percent refused to answer. Despite this, most Americans, 81 percent, think it is “very” or “somewhat” likely that Trump will attempt to increase tariffs on China and Mexico.

The poll was conducted from Jan. 2-10 with 2,128 Americans. The margin of error was 2.6 percentage points.

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