US Politics
Nearly 3 in 4 Americans say ICE needs to be overhauled or abolished after Minnesota killings of Good and Pretti: poll
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Almost three-quarters of Americans want to see ICE either reformed or abolished following the fatal shootings of protesters Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis last month, according to a new poll.
The latest survey from NBC News Decision Desk finds that 43 percent of the public believes the federal immigration agency must be reformed, while another 29 percent said they would prefer to see it shut down altogether, which, taken together, accounts for 72 percent or three people in four.
By contrast, just 29 percent were happy for the agency to continue its immigration operations in its current form. There was a sharp partisan divide on that point, with 71 percent of Republicans favoring business as usual, but just 2 percent of Democrats.
Regarding ICE’s tactics specifically, 67 percent of respondents said its agents had “gone too far,” 23 percent said they had been about right, and 10 percent said they had not gone far enough.
Overall, 66 percent said they disapproved of ICE’s conduct, compared to just 34 percent in favor.
Additionally, a whopping 62 percent of national respondents said that they did not trust that the investigations into the Good and Pretti shootings would be fair and transparent.
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President Donald Trump’s personal approval rating was also found to be in poor shape following recent events in Minnesota, tumbling to 39 percent nationally, down from 42 percent in December, and to 40 percent in the northern state, down 5 percent since last summer.
Trump lost the typically blue state to Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election by 50.92 percent to 46.68 percent.
A state-specific poll from NBC News Decision Desk/KARE 11/Minnesota Star Tribune also cast a stark light on the unpopularity of Trump’s immigration crackdown, which has long been considered a winning issue for him.
Among Minnesotans, 57 percent said they strongly disapprove of ICE’s actions in their state, with another 7 percent saying they somewhat disapprove. Only 23 percent of residents were strongly in favor of the agency’s operations.
A question on the agency’s tactics exactly mirrored the national polling.
When asked whether ICE should be allowed to continue patrolling their streets in its current form or if it needed reform, only 31 percent of Minnesotans – less than a third – said the agency was fine as it is.
By contrast, 43 percent wanted to see reform, and 10 percent said it should be abolished altogether.
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Back to Trump, 60 percent of locals felt the president and his administration deserved at least some of the blame for the unrest seen over the last five weeks, with heated clashes between activists and federal forces becoming a common sight amid the bitter winter cold.
The president was forced to act in response to the killing of Pretti in late January, holding crisis talks with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, returning Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Greg Bovino to California, and drafting in his border czar, Tom Homan, to assume control.
Homan has already attempted to strike a calmer tone and ordered 700 agents to stand down, urging greater cooperation between federal and state law enforcement and an emphasis on prioritizing apprehending criminal illegal immigrants, rather than conducting broader roundups of undocumented migrants, an approach Bovino favored.
But with the midterm elections looming in November, Trump will be keenly aware of the need to keep the public onside if he is to avoid being hit by a blue wave at the ballot box.
Perhaps most worryingly for the president, NBC’s national poll found that 65 percent of U.S. citizens believe their country is on the wrong track, a little over a year into his second term.
